mmMmmmm^ 


m;ir^:i§^ 


OF    THE 


REFORMATION, 


ON 


®S^EI^    S)®©!©®!??, 


BY  WILLIAM  MACKRAY, 

MINISTBR    OF    THE    GOSPEL STERLING,    SCOTLANl^, 


**The  Cause  of  Man.*' — Cowper. 


^PRINTED  AWD  PUBL.ISHJSD  BY  ROBERT  HESBIT, 

No.  3  Frankfort  Street. 

1833; 


PREFACJK. 

'While  the  Author  of  this  essay  was  pursuing  his 
studies  in  the  University  of  Aberdeen,  the  Trustees 
of  Mrs.  Blackwall  proposed  for  her  Biennial 
Prize,  the  Question — -^What  has  been  the  effect 
of  the  Reformation  in  Religion,  on  the  state  of  Ci- 
vil Society  in  Europe  ?"  A  few  pages,  chiefly  with 
a  view  to  his  own  improvement,  he  wrote  on  this 
subject,  and  unexpectedly,  proved  the  successful 
Candidate.  After  his  Essay  was  publicly  read  in 
Marischal  College,  several  persons  who  heard  it. 
expressed  their  desire,  that  it  should  be  published. 

In  various  parts  of  Europe — not  excepting  our 
own  kingdom — the  interests  of  Popery  have  lately 
experienced  a  considerable  revival.  The  number 
of  its  avowed  disciples,  and  of  its  secret  friends, 
has  greatly  increased ;  ^vhile.  in  all  its  territories, 
and  in  all  the  departments  of  its  hierarchy,  there  is 
a  combined  and  vigorous  movement  against  Pro- 
testantism throughout  the  world. — In  these  circum- 
stances, it  is  the  imperative  duty  of  every  genuine 
Protestant  to  rouse  himself  from  slumber,  and,  b^ 


PREFACE. 

every  legitimate  means  and  in  the  temper  of  triip 
charity,  to  give  his  aid  in  the  defence  and  estabUsh- 
ment  of  that  interest  which  involves  at  once  the 
glory  of  God,  and  the  temporal  and  eternal  welfare 
of  mankind.  For  Popery  is  the  bane  of  society, 
and  in  proportion  as  it  obtains  in  the  world,  th(t 
condition  of  men  becomes  degraded  and  nnhappy. 

If,  under  the  favor  of  Almighty  Ggd,  this  Essay 
shall  be  the  means  of  inducing  or  cherishing  a  v.arni 
regard  to  the  cause  of  the  Reformation,  and  a  de- 
sire to  behold  the  blessings  of  that  great  Revolu- 
tion valued  and  extended,  the  object  of  its  publica- 
tion will  be  abundantly  realized." 

The  Author  of  the  following  admirable  treatise, 
having  restricted  his  views  of  "the  bright  and  bliss- 
ful  Reformation"  exclusively  to  Europe — the  Edi 
tor  of  the  Protestant  has  added  a  supplementar} 
chapter  to  illustrate  and  confirm  Mr.  Mackray's 
theories,  by  evidence  deduced  from  the  history  xif 
the  American  continent. 

JVew  Yorh,  19  Novcmhcr,  1830. 


CONTENTS. 

Introduction.  Page  6 — 23. 

Chapter  I.   effect  or  the  reformation  on  civil  liberty. 

importance  of  Liberty  to  Human  Happineg?.  Not  really  enjoyed  in  thr 
States  of  Europe  before  the  Sixteenth  Century.  They  would  have  re- 
mained strangers  to  it  but  for  the  Relbrmation.  Papal  Rome.  Spiritu- 
al Supremacy  of  the  Popes.  Their  temporal  dominion.  Ignorance, 
the  source  of  Papal  Domination.  Means  employed  by  the  Pontiffs  for 
the  establishment  of  their  power.  The  Papal  system  protected  by  re- 
ligious belief  The  Church  the  protectress  of  civil  tyraimy.  Luther. 
Flis  opposition  to  tiie  Court  of  Rome.  Tetzel.  Sale  of  Indulgences. 
Luther  denounces  them.  Is  anathematized.  His  magnanimous  con- 
duct. Th6  translation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  forwarded  the  Reforma- 
tion. Plostility  of  the  Church  of  Rome  to  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures. 
Rapid  spread  of  the  Reformation.  It  partially  overthrew  the  spiritual 
supremacy  of  the  Pontiffs.  Destroyed  their  secular  domination.  The 
Mvcrthrovv^  given  to  the  power  of  Rome  alTected  civil  government. 
Writings  ot"  the  Reformers.  Advocates  for  the  rights  of  the  peoj)Ic. 
Sentiments  of  Luther.  Melanchton.  Zuinglius.  Knox.  Calvin. 
View  of  the  cliange  produced  by  the  Reformation  on  the  liberties  ot 
vlie  states  of  Europe,  England.  Her  condition  posterior  to  it.  Scotland. 
The  Reformation  the  dawn  of  genuine  liberty.  Knox.  The  Cove- 
nanters. Consolidation  of  British  liberty.  Holland.  Sweden.  Denmark. 
Germany.  Switzerland.  Geneva.  Italy.  France.  Spain.  Pp.  25—76. 


C.  K.  effect  of  the  reformation  on  national  prosperity. 

rhe  Reformation  has  impressed  the  minds  of  the  people  with  the  duties 
which  they  owe  to  their  rulers.  The  Papal  system  entwined  with  the 
afiairs  of  Government.  The  interest  of  the  Church  deemed  of  para- 
mount importance.  Vengeance  of  the  Popes  against  the  princes  and 
nations  by  whom  they  were  oflended.  Excommunication.  Interdict. 
Nations  thrown  into  confusion  by  these  instruments  of  Papal  wrath. 
Principle  which  lay  at  the  foundation  of  all  this  preposterous.  Abol- 
ished by  tlie  Retbrmation.  All  interference  of  a  foreign  poAver  with  the 
internal  afiairs  of  States^  excluded.  The  Reformation  has  impressed 
on  tliG  minds  of  Rulers  the  duties  which  they  owe  to  their  subjects. 
Oatii,  to  be  faithful  to  Rome,  led  to  persecut'on.  Happier  system  in- 
troduced by  the  Reibrmation.  Princes  raised  above  the  control  of 
Home.  Harmony  of  feeling,  and  of  interest  produced  between  Pra 
Testant  princes  and  their  people.  Charles  IX.  Elizabeth.  Bartholomew 
massacre.     Tlie  Reformation  abolished  many  customs  and.  institutions. 


CONTENTS. 

wiiich  corrnpted  llie  morals,  and  impoverished  Tiie  resources  of  iUr 
Slates  of  Europe.  Mona.chism.  Dimimitioii  of  the  mimber  of  testival.-^ 
and  hohdays.  The  Reformation  imposed  a  powerful  check  on  crime. 
Doctrine  oi"indulgence?.  Doctrine  of  the  right  of  sanctuary.  Abohshed 
in  Protestant  lands.  Beneficial  effect  of  the  Reformation  on  the  inter 
course  of  states  with  each  other.  Pp.  77—116 


C.    III.    EFFECT   OF   THE    REFORMATION    ON    SOCIAL   LIFE. 

Social  morality  promoted  by  the  Reformation.  Morality  essential  to  hap- 
piness. Superstition  its  enemy.  Popish  superstition.  Corruption  ol 
manners.  The  progress  of  literature  would  hav^e  furnished  no  remed} 
for  the  prevailing  evils.  The  Reformation  a  recurrence  to  Christian 
principles  and  Christian  purity.  A  revolution  in  social  morality  forced 
upon  Papists.  The  Reformation  gave  security  to  the  intercourse  of  so 
cial  lile.  Principles  of  Popery  opposed  to  it.  The  virtue  and  peace  oi' 
domestic  life  in  the  power  of  the  Clergy.  Auricular  confession.  Abom 
inations  practised  under  this  doctrine.  "Abolished  in  Protestant  lands. 
The  Reformation  effected  an  auspicious  change  in  the  people.  Ten- 
dency of  the  Romish  system  to  destroy  generous  feelincr.  Awfully  in 
tolerant.  The  temper  of  popery  the  reverse  of  that  by  which  domestic' 
society  can  be  rendered  happy.  Charity  the  peculiar  spirit  of  the  Re- 
formation. Pp.  117—126, 


C.   lY.   EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION  ON  THE    rROCRESS   OF    KNOA^'LEDGE. 

Value  of  knowledge  to  man.  Its  importance  to  national  dignity  and  vir- 
tue. Melancholy  state  of  knowledge  before  the  16th  century.  The  pa 
pal  system  hostile  to  learning.  The  Reformation  naturally  tended  t(> 
stimulate  knowledge.  Discussions  originated  by  the  Reformation  pro- 
moted knowledge.  Noblest  works  of  genius  were  produced  by  Pro- 
testants. Study  of  literature  forced  upon  the  Papists.  Knowledge  can- 
not be  encouraged  by  Rome.  Protestant  States  most  eminent  for  liter 
ature.  Progress  of  knowledge  since  the  Reformation.  Great  efforts  in 
the  present  age  to  promote  improvement.  Rome  is  opposing  the  pro 
gress  of  knowledge.  Her  efforts  will  be  finally  unsuccessful.  ^Tniversai 
spread  of  knowledge  anticipated.  Pp.  127—132 


C.    V.    EFFECT   OF   THE   REFORMATION    IN   AMERICA. 

European  Settlements.  Civil  Liberty.  National  Prosperity.  Social  Lift^ 
Progress  of  Knowledge.  Recapitulation.  Pp.  133—141. 


INTRODUCTORY 


Few  evenls  in  tlie  liislory  of  mankind  liavc  been  of  greater 
importance  than  the  Reformation,  and  few  have  derived  theij' 
orio-in  from  more  inconsiderable  occurrences.  Wonderful  in- 
deed  would  the  intelligence  have  been  regarded  by  the  contem- 
poraries of  Tetzel,  that  the  ebullitions  of  the  zeal  of  that  impru- 
dent fanatic  were  to  kindle  a  flame,  which  would  burn  till  it  had 
utterly  consumed  the  great  fabric  of  spiritual  despotism,  that  the 
oppressors  of  Europe  had  been  rearing  for  a  thousand  years, — 
and  that  they  were  to  give  birth  to  a  revolution  whose  influence 
would  be  felt  in  the  remotest  regions  of  the  world,  and  by  the 
latest  generations  of  mankind.  Great  as  is  the  importance  which 
we  now  attach  to  the  Reformation,  the  circumstance  by  which  it 
was  introduced  would  seem  to  t!ie  men  v/ho  beheld  it  one  of 
those  ephemeral  transactions  in  human  history,  which,  when  a 
few  years  have  passed  awa^y-,  are  forgotten — like  a  twinkling  ta- 
per cast  upon  the  ocean,  which,  after  the  glimmer  of  a  moment. 
is  swallowed  up  for  ever.  They  were  too  near  the  scene  of  ac- 
tion,— their  attention  was  too  much  directed  to  insulated  por- 
tions of  the  plan  which  was  in  process  of  developement  before 
them,  to  obtain  a  comprehensive  view  of  it  as  one  great  whole. 
Their  case  with  respect  to  the  Reformation  resembled  that  of  a 
traveller,  in  reference  to  some  beautiful  but  extensive  landscape. 
He  might,  in  passing  over  it,  mark  successively  its  varied  aspect, 
and  the  loveliness  of  its  individual  parts  ;  but  its  beauty  as  a 
whole,  arising  from  the  splendid  assemblage  of  charming  ob- 
jects which  it  exhibits,  it  would  not  be  possible  for  him.  duly  to 


8  INTRODUCTORY. 

estimate,  unless,  betaking  himself  to  some  commanding  emi- 
nence, his  eye  could  cast  its  glance  over  the  entire  scene — the 
landscape  would  burst  on  him  in  all  its  loveliness,  and  appear  in 
the  richness  of  its  combined  beauty.  It  would  have  been  ne- 
cessary for  the  men  who  were  contemporary  with  Luther  and 
Tetzel  to  look  at  the  transactions  which  were  passing  under  their 
notice  from  an  eminence  in  the  moral  and  political,  analogous^ 
to  that  v/hich  we  have  supposed  in  tlie  material  M-orld,  ere  lhe\ 
could  have  estimated,  according  to  its  just  magnitude,  their  pe- 
culiar importance.  Such  an  eminence  do  we  occupy.  At  the 
distance  of  three  hundred  years  from  that  memorable  revolution 
which  distinguished  the  16th  century,  we  can  trace  the  causes-' 
from  which  it  originated  ; — we  can  discern  its  commencemeni 
amid  a  multiplicity  of  unnoticed,  and  apparently  unimportant, 
occurrences ; — we  can  follow  it  in  the  various  stages  of  its 
developement ; — we  can  mark  the  impulse  whicli  it  has  given 
10  human  affairs,  and  the  features  which  it  has  impressed  on 
liuman  society ;  and  thus  are  we  precisely  in  that  situation 
whence  it  may  be  viewed  in  ail  the  variety  of  its  bearings, 
and  estimated  according  to  its  unspeakable  moment. 

We  should  seek  to  gain  acquaintance  with  the  history  of 
this  most  interesting  ©f  all  the  revolutions  that  have  taken  place 
In  modern  times,  and  we  should  investigate  the  benefits  whicli 
it  has  been  the  means  of  conferring  on  the  world ; — that  thus 
our  belief  in  the  providence  of  that  Almighty  Disposer  of  events, 
whose  interposition  it  striking!}-  displays,  might  be  strengthen- 
ed, and  that  a  higher  tone  might  be  given  to  those  feelings  oi 
gratitude  which  it  is  our  duty  to  cherish,  in  the  first  place  to- 
wards the  Supreme  Agent,  and  then  towards  those  illustrious  in- 
dividuals, to  whom,  under  God,  the  world  is  indebted  for  thai 
ffreat  sum  of  intellectual,  moral,  and  political  good  which  it  lia- 
derived  from  the  Reformation. 

Regarding  man  as  a  moral  and  immortal  being,  the  circum- 
stance which,  above  all  others,  entitles  the  event  of  which  we 
are  treating  to  our  orrateful  remembrance,  is  the  change  which  it 
lias  accomplished  in  rcUg'ioii, — in  rescuing  mind  from  tlie  chains 


INTRODUCTORY.  ,  9 

which  spiritual  despotism  liad  been  for  ages'laboring  with  dread- 
ful success  to  wreathe  around  it;  in  teaching  it  to  scan  its  un- 
alienable rights,  and  spurn  subjection  to  any  power  save  that  of 
its  Creator;  in  fetching  forth  from  the  darkness  where  success- 
ful villany  had  doomed  it  to  dwell,  and  setting  open  to  the  in- 
habitants of  every  land,  that  Book  by  which  life  and  immortalit} 
are  brought  to  light ;  in  short,  in  exhibiting  Christianity  in  her 
native  glory,  disrobed  of  those  dark  and  degrading  superstitions 
hy  which,  during  many  generations,  her  loveliness  had  been  ob- 
scured. But,  even  when  viewed  independently  of  its  reference 
to  religion — when  regarded  altogether  as  to  the  influence  which 
it  has  exerted  on  civil  and  political  affairs — it  has  been  pro- 
ductive of  alterations  of  so  much  moment  in  man's  social  con- 
dition, as  to  render  it  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  important 
events  which  history  relates.  It  has  not  merely  thrown  over 
the  face  of  society  a  few  superficial  and  transitory  embellish- 
ments ;  it  has  imparted  to  it,  substantial  and  permanent  improve- 
ment. Man,  in  every  character  in  which  he  can  be  viewed,  and 
iw  every  pursuit  in  which  he  can  engage,  has  experienced  its 
power.  To  it  we  look  back  as  the  source  of  all  the  liberty 
with  which  Europe  is  blessed.  It  has  poured  light  on  the 
duties  and  the  interests  of  rulers,  and  of  their  subjects.  Na- 
tions are  indebted  to  it  for  the  removal  of  numberless  evils  whicli 
iiindered  their  prosperity,  and  for  the  confidence  which  charac- 
terizes their  mutual  transactions ;  whilst  individuals  and  families 
experience  its  influence  in  the  security  which  it  has  imparted  to 
domestic  enjoyment.  And  literature  and  the  progress  of  know- 
ledge have  derived  from  it  an  impulse,  greater  than  from  any 
other  event  recorded  in  the  history  of  the  world.  The  Refor- 
mation is  the  era  from  whtch  modern  science  has  dated  her 
rapid  and  unparalleled  triumphs. 

But  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Reformation,  whicli 
operated  so  extensively  and  so  powerfully  in  changing  the  reli- 
gious, the  political,  and  the  social  condition  of  ihe  states  of  Eu- 
rope, would  have  been  unattended  by  any  consequences  of  an 
Injurious  description.     This  world  is  not  the  scene  of  unmingled 


10  INTRODUCTORY. 

good.  The  character  and  circumstances  of  man  in  liis  present 
state  of  existence  are  such,  that  every  event  which  takes  place 
in  his  history  must,  like  the  symbolical  cloud  in  the  desert  of  Si- 
nai, have  a  dark,  as  well  as  a  bright  side, — must  have  a  portion 
of  evil  mixed  up  with  all  the  good  of  which  it  is  productive.  In 
the  history,  even  of  Christianity,  we  lind  the  most  striking  illus- 
tration of  the  truth  of  this  maxim  that  can  possibly  be  conceived. 
Its  introduction  is,  unquestionr.bly,  the  most  important  and  aus- 
picious event  that  ever  had  been,  or  ever  will  be,  recorded  in  the^ 
annals  of  tlie  human  race.  Its  motto  is  the  song  of  angels. 
Glory  to  Gcd  in  the  highest,  peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men.'' 
In  the  history  of  Christianity  are  destined  to  be  more  than  reali- 
zed the  brightest  visions  that  ever  prophet  announced,  or  rap- 
tured poet  sung;  scenes  of  peace,  and  felicity,  and  joy,  "such  as 
earth  sav/  never,  such  as  heaven  stoops  down  to  see."  Never- 
theless, the  introduction  of  Christianity  Avas  not  unaccompanie([ 
with  disastrous  effects.  Its  nature  and  its  tendency  are  good, — 
without  any  mixture  of  evil.  Yet  did  its  divine  author,  our 
blessed  Lord  and  Saviour,  declare  respecting  it,  "  I  come  not  to 
send  peace  on  earth,  but  a  sword  ;  for  I  am  come  to  set  a  man  at 
variance  against  his  father,  and  the  daugliter  against  her  mother, 
and  the  daughter-in-law  against  her  mother-in-law  ;  and  a  man's 
toes  shall  be  those  of  his  own  household."  Wars,  and  persecu- 
tions, and  outrage,  and  bloodshed  to  a  most  awful  degree  were, 
accordingly,  its  consequences — consequences,  hov/ever,  of 
which  it  is  innocent,  and  which  are  attributable  solely  to  the  de- 
pravity of  those  Vvho,  when  the  light  shone  among  them,  were 
unwilling  to  receive  it.  Now,  if  even  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  most  memorable  and  blissful  event  that  is  recorded 
in  the  whole  history  of  man,  v*as  the  innocent  occasion  of  many 
disastrous  transactions,  it  is  by  no  means  wonderful,  that  th(^ 
Reformation  from  Popery,  which  was  just  tlic  restoration  ol 
genuine  Christianity,  should  have  been  followed  by  some  conse- 
quences of  a  similar  nature.  The  opponents  of  Christianity,  in 
the  primitive  ages  of  her  history,  eagerly  laid  hold  of  this  facL 
and  talked  of  it  as  a  demonstration  that  Christianity  had  been  a 


INTRODUCTORY.  11 

curse,  and  not  a  blessing,  to  mankind  ;  and  their  example  has 
been  imitated  by  the  enemies  of  the  Reformation.  They  have 
told  us  of  a  multitude  of  evils,  of  which  that  revolution  has  been 
productive,  and  they  have  attempted  to  persuade  us  that  these 
are  of  such  magnitude  as  never  to  be  atoned  for  by  the  benefits 
which  it  has  conferred  ;  but  nothing  could  be  more  illiberal,  or 
more  unjust.  Many  of  the  alleged  evils  which  are  attributed 
to  the  Reformation,  are  found,  on  inquiry,  to  be  productive  of 
good.  Not  a  few  of  the  injurious  occurrences  with  Avhich  it  is 
blamed,  are  unjustly  laid  to  its  charge  ;  and  those  real  evils 
which  it  has  occasioned,  are  infinitely  counterbalanced  by  the 
numberless  substantial  benefits  with  which  it  has  been  attended. 

We  are  told,  that  the  Reformation  has  operated  with  mischiev- 
ous efiect  on  the  tranquillity  of  civil  and  political  society.  It 
has  been  productive  of  many  fierce  and  disastrous  wars  in  all  the 
countries  of  the  western  world.  Germany,  and  France,  and 
Britain,  we  are  assured,  have  all  been  the  scenes  of  the  desperate 
and  long  continued  struggles  to  which  it  gave  birth.  Now,  we 
answer,  that  the  guilt  of  these  unhappy  conflicts,  cannot  be 
charged  on  the  Reformation  ;  and  although  it  were  true  that 
these  hostile  transactions  were  excited  and  encouraged  by  the 
Reformation,  they  bore  such  a  character,  and  have  been  produc- 
tive of  such  beneficial  consequences,  that,  notwithstanding  all 
the  atrocities  by  which  they  were  distinguished,  and  the  obstruc- 
tions which,  for  a  time,  they  laid  in  the  way  of  social  improve- 
ment, they  are  blessings  to  mankind. 

Let  it  be  supposed,  that  those  contests  by  which,  during  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  the  nations  of  Europe  were 
convulsed,  with  all  the  evils  which  they  occasioned,  are  to  be 
laid  to  the  charge  of  the  Reformation  ;  who,  that  thinks  of  the 
character  which  they  bore,  and  of  the  eftects  which  they  produc- 
ed, will  hesitate  to  admit  that  they  have  been,  on  the  whole, 
auspicious  events?  The  love  of  freedom,  and  a  noble  determina- 
tion to  recover  the  long-lost  rights  of  men,  originated  them,  and 
stimulated  their  continuance.  The  foes  of  the  Reformation  in- 
deed, have  often  stigmatized  them  as  contests  of  rebellion,  but 


\'Z  INTRODUCTORY. 

the  stigma  is  slanderous  and  unjust.  They  were  contests  for  re- 
jigion,  and  liberty,  and  truth— all  that  is  dear  to  man  in  this 
world,  and  in  the  world  to  come.  Even  although  they  had  been 
unsuccessful,  we  should  have  honored  them  in  our  remembrance, 
and  the  scenes  in  which  they  were  waged  should  be  venerated 
as  the  fields  of  glorious,  though  fruitless  fight.  But  these  con- 
tests were  not,  in  general,  unsuccessful :  attended,  doubtless, 
they  were,  with  awful,  and  extensive,  and  long-lasting  devasta- 
tion, whose  details  fill  us  with  regret  and  horror  ;  but  they  ter- 
minated in  the  overthrow  of  the  oppressor,  the  breaking  asund- 
er of  fetters,  and  the  bringing  forth  of  the  enslaved  to  light  and 
liberty.  Should  protestant  Germany  consider  even  the  century 
of  warfare  which  the  Reformation  cost  her,  too  mighty  a  price 
for  the  substantial  advantages  she  has  derived  from  it  ?  Would 
the  Belgian  provinces  be  content  again  to  submit  to  the  imperial 
yoke,  if  the  blood  and  treasure  which  they  expended  in  gaining 
their  freedom  could  be  restored?  Is  there  any  patriot  of  our 
own  land,  who,  when  he  thinks  of  the  years,  and  ages  even,  of 
internal  convulsion,  by  which  she  was  rent  in  consequence  of  the 
Reformation,  imagines  that  she  purchased,  by  too  costly  sacrifi- 
ces, her  freedom,  her  happiness,  her  glory?  In  short,  is  there 
any  man  of  sound  intelligence,  who  will  cast  his  eyes  over  the 
nations  of  Europe,  and  mark  the  independence  of  mind,  the 
activity  of  thought,  the  elevation  of  character,  the  refinement  of 
manners,  by  which  they  are  generally  distinguished,  and  contrast 
all  this  with  the  condition  of  Europe  in  the  dark  ages,  and  then 
say  that  the  sacrifices  which  were  made  in  accomplishing  this 
mighty  change  have  been  beyond"its  value?  Impossible.  Put- 
ting the  blessings  of  restored  Christianity  out  of  the  question, 
the  Reformation  has  been  attended  with  a  multiplicity  of  other 
benefits  to  the  nations  of  Europe,  and,  indeed,  to  the  world  at 
large,  which  amply  compensate  for  all  the  toils,  and  perils,  and 
woes,  which  were  experienced  in  conflicting  for  its  establishment. 
But  the  guilt  connected  with  these  scenes  of  warfare  and  out- 
rage cannot  be  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  Reformation.  Those 
onlv,  are  to  be  blamed  for  these  things,  who  resisted  the  improve- 


INTRODUCTORY.  U 

ruents,  and  the  just  rights,  which  the  people  had  become  en- 
lightened enough  to  appreciate  and  to  demand.  Mildness  an4 
peace  are  the  characters  which  the  friends  of  the  reformed  faith 
always  desired  to  bear  ;  persuasion  and  argument  the  only  arms 
they  were  anxious  to  employ.  Nor  would  any  other  ever  have 
been  employed,  if  the  despots  of  the  age  had  listened  to  the 
voice  of  reason  and  of  truth.  They,  certainly,  had  no  right  to 
prevent  the  degraded  millions  who  were  their  subjects,  from  be- 
coming enlightened,  and  free,  and  happy.  Rather  ought  they 
to  have  made  common  cause  with  their  people  ;  and  if  they  had 
done  this,  which  it  w^as  at  once  their  duty  and  their  interest  to 
do,  the  peace  of  the  world  would  not  have  been  interrupted. 
But  they  set  themselves  to  oppose  the  Reformation ;  they  at- 
tempted its  overthrow.  The  ruin  of  its  friends — the  wretched- 
ness of  mankind,  would  have  been  the  consequence  of  their  suc- 
cess. Resistance  was  necessary — resistance  was  made ;  not 
those,  however,  who  resisted,  but  those  whose  aggressions  rous- 
ed that  resistance — the  enemies  of  the  Reformation,  and  they 
alone,  must  bear  the  guilt  of  all  the  evils  of  which  it  was  the 
innocent  occasion. 

It  is  affirmed,  farther,  that  the  Reformation  has  operated  with 
injurious  effect  on  literature,  and  on  the  fine  arts.  These  com- 
plaints are  destitute  of  foundation.  It  is  not  true — that  the 
ebullition  of  popular  indignation  which  burst  forth  against  the 
ancient  system,  was  attended  with  the  extensive  destruction  of 
literary  works.  The  monasteries,  at  the  time  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, seem  to  have  been  any  thing  but  the  abodes  of  learning  ; 
and  the  Reformers  were  too  much  distinguished  as  literary  men 
themselves,  and  too  anxious  to  see  the  streams  of  knowledge 
pouring  their  fructifying  waters  along  the  desolate  heritages  of 
the  earth,  to  recommend  measures  by  which  injury  would  be 
done  to  the  interests  of  learning. 

What  though  some  monuments  of  Grecian  and  Roman  genius 
have  perished,  and  some  magnificent  specimens  of  architecture 
have  been  turned  into  ruins,  and  some  opportunities  thereby 
been  taken  away  from  our  men  of  science,  of  exercising  literary 


14  INTRODUCTORY. 

acumen,  and  gratifying  literary  taste  ?  What  matters  all  tlii?, 
when  in  the  room,  and  by  the  means  of  these  disadvantages, 
there  has  been  obtained  the  shining  forth  of  Christianity,  in  her 
unadulterated  and  glorious  simplicity,  and  the  breaking  asunder 
and  casting  away  of  the  vilest  and  most  grievous  manacles  that 
ever  enslaved  the  body  and  the  soul  of  man  ? 

The  general  influence  of  the  Reformation,  has  not  been  hostile 
to  learning.  What  literature  had  Europe,  that  was  worthy  of 
the  name,  before  the  sixteenth  century  ?  What  literature  has 
Europe  still,  that  is  not  either  the  immediate  offspring  of  the 
Reformation,  or  mainly  indebted  to  it  for  its  lusture  and  perfec- 
tion ?  Have  not  all  the  great  literary  works,  which  have  made 
their  appearance  in  modern  times,  been  the  production  of  men 
who  were  either  Protestants,  or  had  felt,  though  they  refused  to 
acknowledge,  their  obligations  to  the  potent,  rousing,  and  en- 
nobling influence  of  the  Reformation. 

The  fine  arts  have  been,   to  a  certain  extent,  unfavourably 
affected   by  the  Reformation.     Not  merely   in  consequence  of 
those  operations  of  positive  destruction,  which  took  place  in  va- 
rious parts  of  Europe,  but  chiefly,  in  virtue  of  the  change  which 
has  been   eflfected  in  religion  ;  in  the  expulsion  of  all  that  ex- 
ternal pomp  and  magnificence  by  which  the  system  of  the  dark 
ages  was  distinguished  ;  and  by  means  of  which  encouragement, 
to  an  incredible  extent,  was  given  to  the  arts,  especially  those 
of  architecture,    painting  and   sculpture.     "  When  a  pompous 
worship  requires  magnificent  temples,  imposing  ceremonies,  and 
splendid  decorations ;  when  religion  presents  to  men's  eyes  the 
sensible  images  of  the  objects  of  public  worship  ;  when  it  rests 
on  a  sacred  mythology;  when  the  earth  and  heavens  are  peopled 
with  supernatural  beings,  to  v/hom  the  imagination  may  lend  a 
form  ;  then  it  is  that  the  arts,  encouraged  and  ennobled,  attain 
the  height  of  their  glory  and  perfection.     The  architect,   called 
to  honors  and  fortune,  conceives  the  plan  of  those  temples  and 
cathedrals,  the  sight  of  which  imposes  a  religious  awe,  and  of 
which  the  walls  are  adorned  with  the  finest  productions  of  art. 
This  temple,  those  altars,  are  ornamented  with  morble  and  pre- 


INTRODUCTORY.  15 

•lous  metals,  which  sculpture  has  formed  into  angels,  saints,  and 
the  images  of  illustrious  men.  All  the  different  apartments  are 
decorated  and  filled  with  pictures.  In  one  place  is  Jesus  expir- 
ing upon  a  cross  ;  in  another  he  is  shining  on  Mount  Tabor,  in 
all  the  divine  Majesty.  Art,  so  nearly  allied  to  what  is  ideal, 
and  which  delights  in  ascending  to  heaven,  repairs  thither  to 
seek  for  its  most  sublime  creations  ;  John,  a  Cecilia,  and  par- 
ticularly a  Mary,  that  patroness  of  all  tender  and  ardent  souls — - 
that  virgin  model  of  all  mothers, — the  intercessor  of  grace  plac- 
ed between  man  and  his  God — that  Elysian — that  august  aud 
interesting  being — whom  no  other  religion  offers  any  thing  that 
resembles.  During  those  solemnities,  the  finest  stuffs,  precious 
stones,  and  embroideries,  cover  the  altars,  the  vases,  the  priests, 
and  even  the  partitions  of  the  sacred  place.  Music  completes 
the  charm  by  the  most  exquisite  strains,  and  the  harmony  of 
various  instruments.  Those  powerful  encouragements  are  re- 
peated in  a  thousand  different  places.  Capitals,  parishes,  the 
numerous  convents,  even  the  most  humble  congregations,  strive 
lo  excel  in  splendor,  and  to  captivate  all  the  faculties  of  the  de- 
vout and  religious  mind.  Thus  a  taste  for  the  arts  becomes  gen- 
eral, by  means  of  so  powerful  an  exciting  cause.  Artists  multi- 
ply, and  vie  with  one  another  in  their  efforts.  The  celebrated 
schools  of  Italy  and  Flanders  flourished  under  that  influence, 
and  their  beautiful  productions  which  have  come  down  to  us, 
afford  abundant  testimony  of  the  greatness  of  the  encouragements 
which  they  derived  from  the  Popish  worship." 

A  scene  of  a  different  kind  has  been  introduced  by  the  Refor- 
mation. The  union  which  existed  between  religion  and  the  arts 
lias  been  broken  down.  The  magnificence  of  popish  worship 
has  been  abolished,  as  inconsistent  with  the  institutions  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  a  simple  yet  dignified  ritual  introduced  into  the 
church,  which  forms  a  striking  contrast  to  all  the  foolish  pa- 
geantry of  what  was  called  the  Christian  worship  of  former 
times.  This  change  has  been,  in  a  religious  point  of  view,  most 
beneficial  to  the  Christian  world.  It  has  trampled  in. the  dust 
iha  idolatry  of  Romanism  ;  has  dissolved  the  enchantment  of  the 


L6  INTRODUCTORY. 

imagination,  by  which  men  were  deluded,  and  withdrawing  the 
attention  of  the  worshippers  from  splendid,  but  unmeaning  forms, 
has  directed  it  to  that  which  is  of  infinitely  greater  importance, 
— the  religion  of  the  heart.  But,  while  this  change  has  benefit- 
ed the  great  cause  of  scriptural  piety,  it  has,  at  the  same  time, 
done  disservice  to  the  arts.  It  has  annihilated  one  of  their  most 
powerful  stimulants  ;  has  diminished  their  popularity,  and  ex- 
cluded them  from  a  scene,  of  all  others  the  most  eminently 
adapted  to  call  forth,  and  furnish  scope  for  their  noblest  tri- 
umphs. Superb  temples  are  not  now  deemed  indispensably 
necessary  for  the  worship  of  Deity ;  the  productions  of  the  chisel 
and  the  pencil  are  banished  from  the  house  of  God  as  unseemly 
decorations  ;  and  the  world,  having  lost  its  reverence  for  the 
patronage  of  saints  and  angels,  no  longer  expends  its  treasures 
on  their  statues. 

The  influence  of  the  Reformation  has,  undoubtedly,  in  respect 
of  these  things,  been  unfavorable  to  the  progress  of  the  fine  arts. 
But  religion  is  of  infinitely  greater  importance  to  mankind  than 
the  arts  ;  and,  rather  than  behold  it  corrupted  and  debased,  we 
should  be  content  that  they  should  perish  and  be  forgotten.  Sup- 
pose the  Reformation  not  to  have  taken  place,  then  art  would 
have  continued  to  be  encouraged,  to  flourish,  to  accumulate  its 
trophies,  and  to  advance  towards  higher  degrees  of  eminence 
and  glory. '  But  at  what  expense  would  all  this  have  been  ob- 
tained? At  the  expence  of  dishonored,  degraded  Rehgion,  and 
the  perpetuated  ignorance,  deception,  and  misery  of  mankind  ! 
The  fine  arts  were,  to  a  certain  extent,  identified  with  that  mon- 
strous corruption  of  Christianity  which  had  usurped  her  name, 
and  were  not  the  least  powerful  of  those  means  by  which  that 
mystery  of  iniquity  was  cherished  and  upheld.  But  v»^ho  would 
wish  to  see  the  arts  prosper,  at  the  expense  of  all  the  dearest  in- 
terests of  mankind  ?  Who  would  not  rather  that  they  should  be 
shorn  of  some  of  their  splendor,  than  that  their  fascination 
should  go  down  to  succeeding  generations  with  its  power  unim- 
paired, by  which,  in  the  most  momentous  of  all  concerns,  men 
were  deluded  and  destroyed  ?  Who,  in  ihort,  deem.s  not  the  vin^ 


INTRODUCTORY.  H 

dication  of  religion,  the  restoration  of  luiadulteraied  Christianity, 
and  the  establishment  of  menial  freedom,  blessings  of  such  in- 
conceivable magnitude,  as  inlinitely  to  counterbalance  the  par- 
tial and  temporary  restraint  which,  in  contending  for  their  en- 
joyment, was  imposed  upon  the  arts  ? 

In  thus  depriving  the  arts  of  one  important  mean  of  their 
prosperity,  the  Reformation  has  offended  in  company  with 
Christianity,  and  the  very  same  defence  which  triumphantly  vin- 
dicates the  latter,  serves  for  the  vindication  of  the  former.  Tu 
a  far  greater  extent  than  ever  was  the  case  under  Popery,  did  the 
religion  of  the  Greeks  exercise  a  fostering  influence  over  the 
arts.  When  we  contemplate  it  as  Christians,  it  is  the  object  of 
our  utter  contempt  and  abomination,  exhibiting,  in  a  m.ost  me- 
lancholy manner,  how  stupid  and  depraved  the  human  mind  is, 
when  unenlightened  and  unrenewed  by  Him  who  created  it.  But 
when  we  look  upon  it  with  a  scienlitic  eye  ;  when  we  behold  it 
€allin<T  forth  those  energies  of  mind  whose  achievements  it  is 
our  delight  to  contemplate,  it  attracts  our  admiration,  and  forces 
us  to  regard  it  among  the  pleasing  images  of  departed  days.  The 
skill  of  the  architect  was  tasked  for  magnificent  temples  to  their 
thirty  thousand  gods  ;  while  the  most  refined  taste  of  the  pain- 
ter and  the  statuary  was  employed  in  their  decoration.  Not  one 
town  was  there  in  Greece  that  did  not  abound  with  the  produc- 
tions of  her  celebrated  artists.  Athens  alone  could  boast  of  more 
than  3000  statues,  sacred  to  the  memory  of  illustrious  names  ; 
and,  in  every  one  of  her  porticos  and  temples,  were  to  be  beheld 
the  paintings  of  Parrhasius,  Zeuxis,  or  Polygnotus.  Their  of- 
ferings, too,  their  sacrifices,  their  assemblies,  their  holy  revels, 
were  scenes  altogether  favorable  for  sculpture  and  j^ainting. 
*'  Young  priestesses,  adorned  with  festoons  of  amaranths  and 
violets,  and  sacriflcers  crowned  with  ivy,  holding  the  Thyrsus 
in  one  hand,  and  the  cup  in  the  other,  were  personages  most 
interesting  to  the  artisan,  and  eminently  adapted  to  enrich  the 
productions  of  the  fine  arts."  The  religion  of  the  Greeks  fur- 
nished materials  out  of  which,  under  the  forming  hand  of  art. 
t^prung  those  pleasing  and  magnificent  productions  which  have 


18  INTRODUCTORY. 

charmed  to  extcay  the  human  mind  in  many  a  siicceedinif  gone- 
ration,  and  of  which  the  bare  description  has  awakened  the  admi- 
ration and  dehght  of  those  whose  eyes  were  never  privileged  to 
behold  them.  To  all  this  scene  of  pageantry,  Christianity  put  an 
<iiid.  It  destroyed  the  temples  and  the  altars  of  Pagan  idola- 
try;  terminated  its  pompous  worship  ;  abolished  all  its  rites  ;  and 
extinguished  its  glory  for  ever,  ^yhat  a  shock  to  the  fine  arts  was 
this  I  What  a  theme  of  lamentation  to  men  of  genius  and  taste  !  And 
how  might  it  be  expected  that  they  would  inveigh  against  Christi- 
anity as  a  base  and  pernicious  system,  whose  object  was  to  exter- 
minate every  vestige  of  refinement,  and  every  monument  of  taste, 
and  to  plunge  the  world  again  into  the  rudeness  and  barbarism  of 
primitive  days !  But,  in  reference  to  all  this,  how  noble,  how  decis- 
ive, how  glorious,  is  the  defence  of  our  holy  religion  !  In  its  nature 
it  is  not  hostile  either  to  literature  or  the  arts.  Nay,  its  tendency 
is  to  unfetter  the  human  mind,  and  to  inspire  it  with  noble  sen- 
timents, and  thus  to  further,  in  the  most  important  of  all  ways, 
the  improvement  and  happiness  of  man.  In  destroying  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Greeks,  indeed,  it  removed  one  pov/erful  stimulant 
which  the  arts  had  long  enjoyed,  and  thereby,  in  the  mean  time, 
tarnished  their  glory.  But  what  then  ?  The  triumphs  of  Gre- 
cian art  were  gained  at  the  expense  of  interests  infinitely  more 
precious.  They  w-ere  trophies  reared  in  commemoration  of 
''  The  Prince  of  this  world,"  and  one  of  the  chief  of  whose  de- 
vices for  supporting  his  kingdom  has  been  the  pressing  into  its 
service,  the  genius,  the  learning,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  earth. 
in  proportion  as  mankind  became  more  entirely  given  to  idola- 
try, the  fine  arts  advanced  towards  perfection;  they  were  invest- 
ed v/ith  brighter  lustre,  in  proportion  as  the  spiritual  glory  of 
man  departed  farther  away,  and  in  proportion  as  he  sunk  deeper 
in  spiritual  degradation  and  ruin  !  Oh  unhallowed  achievements 
of  art!  Ye  temples,  and  domes,  and  porticos  of  the  ancient 
world;  monuments  of  mighty  genius  and  cultivated  taste  !  We 
look  upon  your  relics  with  admiration ;  but  we  think  of  your 
overthrow  with  delight.  The  abolition  of  the  idolatry  which 
stimulated  vour  creation,  and  arraved  vou  with  all  vour  charms. 


INTRODUCTORY.  19 

has  been  the  salvation  of  the  world;  and  better  lor  mankind  it 
would  surely  have  been,  that  the  art  of  the  painter  and  the  sta- 
tuary should  have  gone  into  everlasting  oblivion,  than  that  wc 
should  have  forfeited  the  civilization,  the  refinement,  and,  above 
all,  the  light  and  the  hope  of  everlasting  life,  which  the  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ  has  imparted  to  mankind  ! 

But  the  unfavorable  influence  which  the  Reformation  exerted 
on  the  fine  arts,  is  far  less  considerable  than  has  been  affirmed. 
A  temporary  eclipse  they  did  ex'?erience  ;  but  it  was  the  prelude 
of  their  shining  forth  with  greater  and  more  permanent  bright- 
ness. Their  connection  with  religion  has  indeed  been  broken 
up,  but  their  achievements  have  been  extended  to  those  other 
departm.ents  of  society  from  which  they  were  excluded,  but 
which  constitute  their  proper  and  legitimate  province.  Patron- 
age, too,  such  as,  save  in  the  states  of  Greece,  the  arts  never 
received,  in  these  later  days,  has  been  awarded  to  them  ;  while, 
in  the  establishment  of  freedom,  the  Reformation  has  laid  a  foun- 
dation for  the  advancement  of  literature  and  the  arts,  without 
which  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  obtain  substantial  and  perma- 
jient  improvement.  "  Never  did  a  slave  become  an  orator," 
and  the  rem.ark  is  applicable  to  all  the  fine  arts,  and  to  general 
literature, — "  his  spirit  being  effectually  broken,  the  habit  of  sub- 
jection continually  overawes  and  bears  down  his  genius." — "  Li- 
berty, on  the  other  hand,  produces  fine  sentiments  in  men  of 
genius.  It  invigorates  their  liopes,  excites  an  honorable  emula- 
tion, and  inspires  a  noble  ambition  and  desire  to  excel."  From 
the  time  when  the  Greeks  began  to  struggle  for  freedom,  till  the 
period  when  that  precious  gift  of  heaven  was  snatched  away 
from  them,  their  great  artists  flourished,  and  all  those  great 
works  of  genius  were  produced,  which  have  reflected  immortal 
honor  on  their  authors,  and  on  the  land  that  gave  them  birth. 
And  although,  in  some  other  nations,  there  have  been  periods  in 
which,  even  in  the  absence  of  liberty,  various  adventitious  cir- 
cumstances combined  to  raise  some  of  the  arts  to  considerable 
improvement,  their  success  in  these  instances  was  not  permanent, 
and  was  inferior  to  that  which,  in'  other  circumstances^  they 


20  INTRODUCTORY. 

would  have  attained.  Literature  and  art  flourishing  amid  an  ai 
mosphere  of  despotism,  remind  us  of  those  plants  and  flower- 
which,  translated  to  an  ungeaial  clime,  are  nevertheless  reared 
to  some  faint  degree  of  maturity  by  artificial  means.  Their  ap- 
pearance, in  these  circnm.stances,  affords  a  slight  indication  of 
what  they  would  have  been  under  their  native  sky ;  bnt  exhibitSr 
on  the  whole,  a  melancholy  contrast  to  the  perfection  of  stature 
and  of  beauty  which  the  genial  hand  of  nature  would  have  con- 
ferred upon  them.  The  Reformation  was  the  dawn  of  genuine 
freedom  in  modern  Europe.  Its  influence  has  been  already  ma- 
nifested in  the  potent  impulse  which  literature  and  the  arts  have 
experienced ;  and  will  yet  be  still  more  eminently  manifested  in 
carrying  them  on  to  achievements  of  more  substantial  excellence 
than  the  modern  world  has  ever  beheld. 

The  charge  has  been  brought  against  the  Reformation, — of 
having  given  birth  to  an  immense  number  of  hostile  religious 
sects,  and  of  having  awakened  the  strife  of  controversy  in  every 
corner  of  Christendom.  It  is  not  true  that  the  number  of  jar- 
ring sects  was  multiplied  in  consequence  of  the  Reformation  ; 
for,  although  it  cannot  be  denied  that  Protestante  have  become 
subdivided  into  a  variety  of  denominations, — it  is  still  as  unde- 
niable that,  in  Rome,  ere  yet  the  Reformation  had  taken  place., 
although  her  members  professed  to  be  gathered  together  under 
the  auspices  of  an  infallible  head,  there  v/as  a  greater  multitude 
of  sects,  each  distinguished  by  its  particular  dogmas,  and  each 
inveterate  against  another,  than  has  appeared  during  the  v/hole 
evsntful  history  of  Protestantism. 

But  although  the  number  of  sects  had  been  greatly  multiplied, 
it  is  most  easy,  in  reference  to  this  matter,  to  vindicate  the  Re- 
formation. For,  who  will  esteem  it  wonderful  that  ihe  sudden 
and  unexpected  restoration  of  liberty  of  thought,  and  of  inquiry 
and  profession,  to  the  members  of  a  church  that,  for  ages,  had 
been  fettered  down  to  implicit  belief  and  passive  obedience, 
should  have  produced  an  immense  num/ber  of  discordant  opinons  ? 
Or,  who  will  say  that  it  is  not  much  more  pleasing,  to  behold  the 
restored  liberty  of  mind  and  conscience,  tvttested  even  in  th'^n 


INTRODUCTORY.  21 

luanner,  than  to  witness  a  tranquillity  pervading  the  church  and 
the  nations,  which  was  manifestly  nothing  else  than  the  deep 
stillness  of  spiritual  degradation  and  spiritual  death  ?  Beside?^, 
many  of  those  unscriptural  and  absurd  opinions,  the  adoption  oi 
which  is  not  wonderful  in  minds,  thrown  suddenly  into  freedom, 
have  long  since  passed  into  oblivion.  Protestantism  has  been 
gradually  uniting  the  energies  of  her  friends,  and  will  continue 
to  do  so  more  and  more,  until  rival  sects  shall  live  only  in  the 
pages  of  the  historian,  and,  the  Roman  apostasy,  with  every 
other  false  system,  having  been  destroyed,  the  disciples  of 
Christ  shall  be  one  over  all  the  earth. 

But,  say  the  enemies  of  the  Reformation,  the  revolution  of 
which  you  make  your  boast  has  interrupted  peace,  and  awaken- 
ed the  din  of  controversy  throughout  every  part  of  the  Christian 
world.     If  there  is  evil  in   this,  of  that  evil  the  Reformation ' 
must  bear  the  blame. 

However  unhappily  controversies  have  too  often  been  con- 
ducted, the  assistance  they  have  afforded  to  the  discovery  of 
truth  is  not  light  or  inconsiderable.  Not  to  mention  the  Refor- 
mation, which  was  principally  effected  by  controversy,  how 
many  truths  have  by  this  means  been  set  in  a  clearer  light,  and' 
whilst  the  unhappy  passions  it  has  awakened  have  subsided,  the 
light  struck  out  in  the  collision  has  been  retained  and  perpetuat- 
ed. As  the  physical  powers  are  scarcely  ever  exerted  to  their 
utmost  extent,  but  in  the  order  of  combat ;  so  intellectual  acu- 
men has  been  displayed  to  the  best  advantage,  and  with  most  ef- 
fect, in  the  contest  of  argument.  The  mind  of  a  controversial- 
ist, warmed  and  agitated,  is  hurried  to  all  quarters,  and  leaves 
none  of  its  resources  unemployed  in  the  invention  of  arguments  : 
tries  every  weapon,  and  explores  the  hidden  recesses  of  a  sub- 
ject with  intense  vigilance,  and  with  an  ardor  which  it  is  next  to 
impossible,  in  a  calmer  state  of  mind,  to  command.  Disingenous 
arts  are  often  resorted  to ;  personalities  are  mingled,  and  much 
irritative  matter  is  introduced  ;  but  it  is  the  business  of  the  at- 
tentive observer  to  separate  these  from  the  question  at  issue,  and 
lo  form  an  impartial  judgment  of  the  whole.     It  may  be  truh 


22  INTRODUCTORY. 

affirmed  that  the  evils  of  controversy  are  transient,  the  good  it 
produces  permanent." 

The  whole  history  of  the  church  since  the  Reformation,  is  a 
commentary  on  these  sentiments.  Freedom  of  discussion  is  the 
glory  of  Protestants,  and  a  thousand  times  rather  would  we  en- 
counter all  its  evils,  than  part  with  its  enjoyment.  It  is  the  dis- 
coverer and  the  guardian  of  truth  ;  and  to  that  very  excitement, 
and  that  very  indulgence  of  controversy  for  which  the  Reforma- 
tion is  blamed,  are  we  indebted  for  the  noblest  defences  of  truth 
of  which  the  world  can  boast.  And  to  those  controversies,  on 
political  and  religious  subjects,  which,  during  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries,  were  carried  on  in  Britain,  and  the  Con- 
tinent of  Europe, — distinguished  as  not  a  few  of  them  Avere,  for 
what  we  call  unchristian  invective, — are  to  be  traced  in  no  in- 
considerable degree,  the  superior  intelligence,  and  the  ardent 
and  unquenchable  love  of  civil  and  religious  freedom,  by- which 
it  is  the  glory  of  Protestants  to  be  characterized. 

Changes  like  these,  by  which  society  has  been,  in  no  ordi- 
nary degree,  improved,  and  by  which  innumerable  blessings 
have  been  diffused  among  its  members,  are  eminently  calculat- 
ed to  draw  forth,  to  the  revolution  that  produced  them,  the 
grateful  and  venerating  feelings  of  every  heart  in  which  there  is 
philanthropy  enough  to  regard  the  augmentation  of  human  hap- 
piness as  an  object  of  delight.  And,  had  the  friends  of  the  Re- 
formation been  assiduous,  as  they  ought  to  have  been,  in  bring- 
ing these  momentous  bearings  of  that  event  prominently  before 
the  world — had  they  roused  themselves  as  they  ought,  to  vindi- 
cate the  extent  of  its  importance,  there  would  not  have  existed 
respecting  it — the  unfounded  and  illiberal  opinions  by  which,  iii 
a  multitude  of  minds,  its  glory  is  obscured,  and  its  interest 
greatly  destroyed : — instead  of  being  regarded  simply  as  an 
event  which,  occasioning  the  adoption  over  a  great  part  ol 
Christendom  of  a  purer  theological  creed,  merits,  on  that  ground, 
the  attention  and  gratitude  of  the  man  of  religion,  it  would  have 
been  seen  to  have  borne  with  so  much  energy  on  man's  social 
destiny — to  have  aflected  so  deeply  his  present  felicity,  as  weU 


INTRODUCTORY.  23 

as  liis  immortal  hopes,  that  there  would  have  been  attracted 
towards  it  the  homage  of  all  who  wish  to  be  deemed  the  friends- 
of  humanity,  as  well  as  the  veneration  of  the  disciples  of  geiiuinc 
Christianity. 

k\i\\o\\g\\  the  present  is  a  scene  which  will,  ere  long,  fade 
from  our  sight,  and  give  place  to  the  subhme  and  unchanging 
realities  of  another;  and  although  the  operations  of  that  Provi- 
dence which  superintends  human  affairs  have  an  especial  respect 
to  man  as  an  immortal  being,  we  are  not  warranted,  on  these 
accounts,  to  deem  unworthy  of  our  notice  whatsoever  bears  not 
directly  on  our  future  destination.  To  do  this,  would  be  to  fall 
into  one  of  those  very  delusions,  which,  in  the  ages  that  pre- 
ceded the  Reformation,  exerted  such  a  ruinous  influence  on 
mankind, — cherishing  and  strengthening  the  most  monstrous 
power  by  which  the  Vv  orld  has  ever  been  oppressed.  Of  small 
moment  as  the  present  is,  when  compared  with  that  scene  of  in- 
conceivably deeper  interest  which  is  to  succeed,  it  is,  neverthe- 
less, one  about  which  the  providence  of  the  Great  Supreme  is 
exercised,  and  in  the  government  of  whose  affairs  his  glorious 
attributes  are  displayed ;  and  if  He  deems  it  not  too  mean  for 
his  regard,  and  moreover  has  enjoined  his  rational  ofl^spring  to 
meditate  upon  his  works,  and  to  consider  the  operations  of  his 
hand,  the  investigation  of  events  in  which  His  agency  is  emi- 
nently conspicuous,  in  their  effect  on  man's  present  as  well  as 
on  his  future  destiny,  must  be  at  once  a  laudable  and  a  profitable 
employment; — laudable,  because  it  is  an  acquiescence  in  the 
will  of  Him  whose  requirements  ought  to  regulate  our  whole 
conduct ;  and  profitable,  because  it  habituates  the  mind  to  recog- 
nize "  a  God  employed  in  all  the  good  and  ill  that  chequer  life," 
and  because  it  furnishes  occasion  for  deeper  and  more  lively  gra- 
titude to  that  wise  and  beneficent  Being,  whose  plan  of  govern- 
ment, has  obviously  in  view  the  promotion  of  human  happiness, 
and  the  progressive  melioration  of  human  society. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE    EFFECT    PRODUCED    BY    THE    REFOR3IATI0> 
ON    CIVIL.    lilBERTY. 


Of  the  various  modes  in  which  the  Reformation  has  operated 
with  powerful  effect  on  the  social  condition  of  man,  the  promotion 
of  civil  liberty  is  one,  which,  from  its  importance  to  human  hap- 
j)inesfc',  is  entitled  to  peculiar  regard.  Than  liberty— all  thar 
freedom  from  constraint  which  is  consistent  with  the  existence 
and  welfare  of  the  social  union — there  is  no  earthly  blessing  ol 
more  importance  to  the  intellectual  and  social  improvement  ol 
mankind.  It  is  the  nurse  of  genius — the  guardian  of  domestir 
comfort— the  parent  of  all  that  is  great  in  national  character. 

From  this  precious  gift  of  heaven,  the  nations  of  modern 
Europe  had  been  long  estranged.  It  had  been  their  fate  to  be 
the  victims  of  unfeeling  despotism,  the  prey  of  one  or  of  man\ 
tyrants.  In  this  state,  almost  without  exception,  they  were  be- 
held at  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth  century— som^ 
lorded  over  by  one,  others  groaning  beneath  the  yoke  of  mauv 
oppressors.  In  not  a  few  of  the  European  states,  the  monarcii 
Avas  absolute,  and  the  people  Avere  in  reality  his  slaves  ;  nor,  iji 
those  other  states  where,  after  many  struggles  withmonarchicai 
power,  the  aristocracy  had  succeeded  in  gaining  the  ascendent}  . 
were  the  people  in  circumstances  of  less  degradation.  The  no 
bles  opposed  the  power  of  the  monarchs,  but  the  object  of  theii 
opposition  was  their  own  aggrandizement,  not  the  liberation  o- 
iheir  enslaved  subjects  ;  and,  remarkable   only  for  th^ir  pride 

3 


26  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

and  the  contempt  with  which  they  regarded  the  inferior  classes 
of  society,  the  transference  of  power  into  their  hands  effected 
no  melioration  in  the  condition  of  the  people.  In  fact,  it  was 
to  the  latter  an  object  of  extreme  indifference,  as  to  any  advan- 
tage resulting  from  the  change,  whether  they  were  in  subjection 
to  one  despot  or  a  hundred. 

Such,  were  the  features  of  the  political  condition  of  Chris- 
tian Europe  at  the  commencement  of  the  16th  century.  And 
who  can  tell  how  long — if  the  Reform.ation  had  not  taken  place 
— this  m.elancholy  state  of  matters  might  have  been  perpetuat- 
ed? The  progress  of  knowledge — to  which  the  discovery  of  the 
art  of  printing  had  imparted  an  unparalleled  impulse — would, 
indeed,  have  overthrown  in  process  of  time  this  system  of 
things,  if  there  had  existed  no  other  power  by  whose  influence 
that  progress  could  have  been  counteracted.  But  there  did  exist 
r^uch  a  power — a  power  to  which  almost  the  entire  Christian 
w'orld  did  homage — whose  influence,  if  it  had  not  been  destroy- 
ed, was  potent  enough  to  check,  in  its  very  commencement,  the 
emancipation  of  mind,  and  which  tlserefore,  whilst  by  perpet- 
uating the  reign  of  darkness,  it  maintai^ied  the  security  of  its 
own  throne,  was  the  guardian  of  every  other  system  of  o]>- 
})ression  by  which  the  world  called  Christian  was  enslaved. 

That  power  is  Papal  Rome, — a  power,  whose  nature,  great- 
ness, and  duration,  are  among  the  most  surprising  phenomena 
that  human  histor}-  presents  to  our  contemplation.  This  power, 
having  icS  seat  at  Rome,  and  an  Italian  priest  as  the  superin- 
tendent of  its  administration,  arrogated  to  itself  the  prerogatives 
of  Deity, — claiming  unlimnted  authority  over  the  world  in  secu- 
lar as  well  as  in  ecclesiastical  affairs, — assuming  to  itself  the 
right  of  dethroning  monarchs,  and  disposing  of  crowns, — and 
visiting  those  who  refused  obedience  to  its  will  with  the  most 
fatal  and  sanguinary  vengeance.  Spiritual  supremacy  was  all 
that  was  originally  claimed  by  the  pretended  Vicars  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  and,  abhorrent  as  the  idea  of  temporal  power  is  to  the 
character  of  the  ministers  of  religion,  and  utterly  repugnant 
as  it  is    to  the    genius  of  Christianity    to    be  associated  with 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  27 

the  pride  and  pomp  of  worldly  grandeur,  more  than  spiritual 
supremacy  it  could  not  have  been  anticipated  that  th^.y  would 
demand.  But,  alas  for  the  peace  and  happiness  of  mai.iiind  !  as 
if  the  imposition  of  an  unhallowed  spiritual  yoke  had  been  too 
small  a  triumph  for  them  to  have  gained  over  a  degrac'ed  world, 
more  than  this  they  did  demand,  and  more  than  this  ihey  came 
to  possess.  In  boundless  violation  of  all  propriety,  and  in  out- 
rage to  that  Saviour  for  whom  they  professed  to  act,  '  ut  whose 
"  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,"  they  assumed  to  themselves 
imperial  as  well  as  sacerdotal  power,  grasped  the  temporal 
sword,  as  well  as  the  keys  of  Peter,  and  ceased  not  to  ply  sieir 
insidious  devices,  till,  not  only  in  religion,  but  also  in  all  secu- 
lar affairs,  they  wielded  uncontrolled  dominion  over  the  Chris- 
tian xvorld.  1.  What  a  spectacle  of  humiliation  was  it,  to  behold 
England  acknowledging  her  subjection  to  a  foreign  priesthood, 
by  the  yearly  payment  of  a  tribute  levied  on  ail  her  families  ; 
— a  tribute  which,  although  the  consideration  of  its  amount  is 
insignificant  in  comparison  with  the  consideration  of  its  de- 
grading import,  was  far  from  being  trivial  in  point  of  value : 
for,  from  the  time  of  its  imposition  to  that  of  its  ab  dition,  the 
sum  which  it  put  into  the  Papal  treasury,  could  not  be  less  than 
a  hundred  millions  of  our  present  money.     2. 

So  completely,  indeed,  did  clerical  ambition  gain  the  ascen- 
dency over  the  secular  powers,  that  the  greatest  of  the  princes 
of  the  eartli  humbled  themselves  to  the  very  dust  in  the  pre- 
sence of  him  who  was  called  "  the  Pope,"  and  sacrificed  before 
him  at  once  the  majesty  of  kings  and  the  dignity  of  men  ;  —  or, 
if  there  did  sometimes  appear  a  monarch,  who,  more  spirited 
than  his  fellows,  dared  to  disobey  "  the  Vicar  of  Christ,"  he 
became  the  victim  of  a  resentment,  which,  availing  itself  of  the 
superstition  of  his  people,  was  felt  to  be  terrible.  3.  In  the 
history  of  Henry  II.  of  England  is  found  a  memorable  illustra- 
tion of  this  remark.  Perceiving  that  the  insolence  and  profli- 
gacy of  the  clerical  orders  in  his  dominions  had  become  intoler- 
able ;  he  determined  to  attempt  their  Reformation ;  but  his  at- 
tempt proved  fatal.     The  Primate  of  England,  indignant,  fled 


:i8  EPTECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

lo  Rome — the  anathemas  of  the  Holy  See  thundered — th(- 
iViends  of  the  King  were  excommunicated — he  himself  was  de- 
posed— and  his  subjects  were  absolved  from  their  allegiance. 
There  needed  no  more.  The  haughty  fugitive  returned  in  tri- 
umph through  the  streets  of  the  English  metropolis,  and  tht- 
j.'riestly  domination  derived  increased  stability  from  the  oppo- 
sition which  it  had  sustained.  4. 

With  propriety  has  the.  period  been  termed  'The  Dark  Ages," 
when  such  a  usurpation  could  meet  with  endurance — a  usurpa- 
tion reared  on  the  ruin  of  all  that  is  virtuous  and  noble  in  the 
j'iiaracter  of  man.  How  much  must  it  excite  our  astonishment, 
ihat  mankind  should  ever  have  given  themselves  up,  bound 
hand  and  foot,  into  the  power  of  such  a  despotism  !  Into  what 
ignominious  debasement  had  they  fallen, — what  blighted  minds 
nnd  withered  hearts  were  theirs,  when  such  an  abomination  was 
permitted  to  defile  the  earth  ! 

"  Then  Superstition  held  her  reif]^n, 

While — priests  combined — a  ready  train- 

Her  throne  on  ip-norance  to  rear. 

And  rule  her  slaves  by  hope  and  fear. 

Obsequiou?,  mid  the  trembling  crowd. 

Slaves  of  their  arts  even  monarchs  bow'd. 
Force  join'd  with  fraud  to  aid  the  unhallow'd  plan- 
And  tyrants  leagued  with  priests,  the  foes  of  man." 

lixnorance  was  the  melancholy  characteristic  of  those  ages— 
ni  ignorance  cherished  in  every  possible  way  by  the  proud  ec- 
•lesiastics,  whose  darling  pursuit  was  universal  dominion;  and 
of  the  manifold  miseries  by  the  endurance  of  M'hich  mankind 
were  afflicted  and  debased,  ignorance  may  be  regarded  as  the 
j)rolific  source.  Superstition,  had  in  those  ages  shed  its  destruc- 
tive inlluence  over  the  Christian  world,  and  operated,  with  dread- 
ful effect,  in  fostering  the  power  by  which  the  world  was  oppres- 
sed. But  superstition  was  the  child  of  ignorance.  Igno- 
■.mce  orio-inated,  igrnorance  gave  duration   to,  that  whole  hide^ 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  29 

ous  train  of  absurdities,  v/hich,  although  shocking  and  insulting 
to  our  common  understanding,  was  with  incredible  art  introduc- 
ed to  the  faith  and  attachment  of  mankind ;  and  therefore,  igno- 
rance mu^t  be  regarded  as  the  source  of  that  gigantic  system  of 
dominatijii  which  these  absurdities  cherished  and  upheld. 

Ignorance  has  ever  been  the  foundation  of  the  tyrant's  throne: 
The  experience  of  all  ages  has  demonstrated,  that  tyranny  will 
never  be  borne  with  patience  till  light  has  been  excluded  from 
the   mind.     Diffuse  knowledge  among  a  people,  confer  upon 
■them  liberty  of  thought  and  of  investigation,  and  you  give  them 
resources  that  cannot  be  exhausted,  energies  that  cannot  be  over- 
come.    Memorable  is  the  illustration  of  this  remark,  in  the  his- 
tory of  ancient  Greece.  What  was  it  that  raised  her  little  states 
to  the  commanding  eminence  which  they  occupied  among  the 
nations  of  the  world?  Liberty.  Greece  was  the  land  of  freedom, 
while  the  people  of  other   lands  were  slaves.     And  why  was 
Greece  free  ?  Because   she  was  intelligent.     Amply  did  know- 
ledge unfold  to   the  Greeks  her  precious  stores;  over  the  fields 
of  literature  and  science  they  expatiated  with  an  ardor  worthy 
of  a  people  who  had  tasted  their  sweets  ;  and  the  effect  of  the 
progressive  march  of  information  thus  stimulated  was  striking. 
\lthough  few  in  number,  possessing  very  limited  resources,  and 
surrounded  by  hosts  of  enemies,  the  inhabitants  of  those  dimi- 
nutive states  did,  nevertheless,  maintain  their  independence  with 
a  loftiness  of  heroism,  that  has  shed  a  lustre  around  their  name, 
which  no  length  of  ages  will  ever  efface.     And  it  was  not  till 
the  Grecian  mind — corrupted  by  the  gold,  and  enervated  by  the 
luxuries  of  conquered  nations — became  disqualified  for,  and  ne- 
glected its  former  glory,  the  pursuit  of  knowledge :  then,  the 
star  of  freedom,    which  had  poured  over  Greece  its  splendid 
rays,  sunk  beneath  her  horizon,  and  left  her,  forlorn,  amid  the 
gloom  of  a  thraldom,  which,  during  every  succeeding  age,  has 
become  more  terrible,  and  from  which,  to  the  lasting  dishonor 
of  other  nations,  v  hom  the  spoils  of  her   literature  have  en- 
riched and  ennobled,  after  the  lapse  of  eighteen  long,  sad  cen- 
turies,  she  is  not  delivered. 

3* 


IM)  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

The  Popes  of  Rome,  therefore,  could  not  possibly  have  adopt- 
ed a  plan  more  calculated  to  establish  the  domination  to  which 
they  aspired,  than   the  imposition  of  restraints  on  freedom  ot 
thought,  and    on   the   progress  of  knowledge.     Their  favorite 
maxim  was,  "  to  retain  the  minds  of  men  in  utter  stupidityj  and 
10 keep  them,  as  much  as  possible,  empty,  that  superstition  might 
lind  a  ready  reception."     The  process  was  slow,  but  its  success 
was  not  doubtful.  Ages  elapsed  ere  this  great  conspiracy  against 
the  liberties  of  mankind  was  matured ;  but  its  authors,  steady 
to   their  purpose,  never,  for  one   moment,  lost   sight  of  their 
darling  object,  till  the  monstrous  system  was  completed,  and. 
by  the  imposition  on   the  world  of  the  doctrine  of  infallibility, 
was  invested  with  a  character  that  seemed  superior  to  change: 
It  was  the  reception  of  this  most  preposterous   doctrine   that 
scaled  the  fate  of  the  nations  of  Europe.     Thenceforth    "  be- 
lieve and  obey,"  was  the  established  law  of  Christendom.    Im- 
])licit  faith  and  blind  submission  were  the  sovereign  virtues. — 
Rational  inquiry  and  private  judgment  did  lov/liest  homage  to 
absolute,  unquestionable,  authority.     Mind  was  doomed  to  stag- 
nation.    The  very  Book,  without  which  men  perish,  was  with- 
drawn from  the  people ;  and  every  opinion,  deemed  hostile  to 
the  interests  of  the  church,  was  denounced  as  heresy.     Last  ot 
all,  as  if  to  fill  up  to   the  very  uttermost  the  measure  of  theii 
atrocious  wickedness — that  they  might  annihilate  for  ever  the 
last  feeble  remains,  of  intellectual  freedom,  they    established 
the  Inquisition, — "  that   tribunal,  which,    in    solemn    mockerx 
of  all  that  is  sacred,  appropriates  to  itself  the  title  of  Holy  Of- 
ficc^  a.nd,  in  its  outrage  to  the  Saviour  of  the  'world,  and  all  the 
spirit  and  letter  of  his  beneficent  laws,  lifts  up  its  front  to  hea- 
s  en  as  the  guardian  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  marches  forth  its 
victims  to  dreadful  agonies  and  burning  flames."     Claiming  for 
its  in&titutor  Pope  Innocent  III.,  one  of  the  most  arrogant  and 
profligate  mortals  that  ever  breathed,  this  detestable  tribunal, 
utterly  opposed  in  its  w^hole  spirit  to  the  genius  of  Christianity, 
had  a  quick  erection  in  many  of  the  states  of  Europe,  and,  with 
disrnal  success^  promoted    ihe  unhallowed  object  for  which 't 
hnd  been  introduced      5 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  Si 

Such  were  ihe  means  by  which  was  reared,  and  long  protect- 
ed, "  that  whole  dark  pile  of  human  mockeries,"  called  Popery, 
which  extended  its  dismal  shade  over  the  Christian  world,  claim- 
ing to  be  the  institution  of  the  Savioiir  of  men,  but  preseniincTi 
in  its  whole  influence-,  a  scene  infinitely  opposed  to  that  which 
xnll  be  beheld  under  the  reign  of  Him,  who  shall  be  to  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth,  "  as  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary 
and." 

As  the  mind  cannot  conceive  a  more  iniquitous  or  more  for- 
midable system  of  oppression  than  that  which  was  managed  by 
the  Roman  Pontiffs,  it  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  one  more 
obviously   destined  to  long  duration.     "  Religion,  acts    on  its 
aibjects  with  a  power   peculiar    to  itself.     The  sense   which 
nan^  by  the  very  constitutini  of  his  nature,  has  of  the   exist- 
ence of  some  superhuman  power,  is  one  of  the  strongest  prin- 
(iples  of  that  nature ;  and  whatever  takes  effectual  hold  of  this 
g^Rse,  will  go  far  toward  acquiring  the  regency  of  his  moral 
teing^"     In  this  manner  was  strength  imparted   to   the  Papal 
jDwe?.     It   had   been  carefully   identified   with  that   principle 
\\\\\<fii  in  every  point,  comes  in  contact  with  the  human  cha- 
iac-r>  and  which,  when  possessed  of  any  energy  at  all,  governs 
x\y  soul.     Thus  identified,  its   control  over  its  subjects  was  su- 
jeme.     Established  under  the  semblance  of  religion,  and  pro- 
cted  by  all  the  authority  of  its  inviolable  sanctities,  the  huge 
olossus  sbemed  invulnei-ablc,  and,  in  the  pride  of  its  imagined 
,<>mnipotence,  scorned  hostility. 

/  Whilst,  in  the  fulness  of  her  ovvn  security.  Papal  Rome  sai 
as  a  queen,  and  said,  "  I  am  no  v»'idow,  and  shall  see  no  sor- 
row," she  was  the  protectress  of  all  the  systems  of  political 
oppression  that  prevailed  throughout  Europe — and  until  that 
power  was  overthrow^n,  and  utterly  demolished,  there  could 
neither  be  the  enjoyment  of  genuine  liberty,  nor  any  material 
improvement  in  the  condition  of  society.  Before  resistance  to 
secular  tyranny  could  commence,  it  was  necessary  that  the  hu- 
inan  mind  should  be  raised  from  prostration,  and  called  fortli 
into  activitv,  that  intelliirence  should  be  diffused,  and  that  men 


oz  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

should  be  brought  to  think  and  act  like  men.  But  all  this  the 
church  forbade — not  because  she  cared  for  the  stability  of  the 
political  governments  of  the  world,  but  because  she  knew  well 
that  every  thing  of  this  kind  was  utterly  opposed  to  her  OAvn 
security.  The  rescue  of  intellect  from  its  degradation,  and  the 
extension  of  knowledge,  would  have  inflicted,  as  they  did  af- 
terwards inflict,  a  death-blow  on  the  Papal  power  ;  and,  there- 
fore, these,  abox-e  all  other  things,  the  Pontiffs  labored  to  pre 
vent.  And  so  long  as  the  power  of  the  church  was  respected, 
so,  long  as  the  authority  of  its  head  was  deemed  indisputable, 
so  long  as  "  believe  and  obey"  was  the  universally  acknowledg- 
ed maxim,  the  occurrence  of  any  change  which  would  havs 
been  favorable  to  liberty  was  impossible.  It  was  absolutelt 
necessary  that  the  authority  of  the  church  should  be  spurnet^ 
and  her  power  overthrown,  ere  the  existing  systems  of  pol:ti' 
cal  thraldom  could  be  even  assailed. 

If,  indeed,  the  tyranny  that  existed  during  those  ages  ]:a! 
been  altogether  of  a  secular  nature — if  it  had  wanted  that  cor- 
nection  v^^ith  the  prevaihng  superstition,  which  imparted  to  it 
such  a  peculiar  complexion,  the  revival  of  letters,  occasonef] 
by  the  discovery  of  the  art  of  printing,  would  have  done  n^ch 
toward  effecting  an  auspicious  change  in  the  circumstance  of 
Europe.     But,  intrenched   as  the  prevailing  systems  were  ^. 
hind  the  formidable  and  universally  respected  power    of  t> 
court  of  Rome,  the  influence  of  literature  was  too  leeble  ar 
too  limited  to  accomplish  any  great  change  in  favor  of  free 
dom.     Raised  by  means  of  popular  ignorance  to  the  possession 
of  a  power  whose  greatness  fills  us  with  astonishment,  the  Pon- 
tiffs became,  as  might  naturally  have  been  expected,  the  patrons 
and  guardians  of  that  to  which  they  owed  their  aggrandizement. 
Their  influence  was  employed  to  perpetuate  in  the  world  the 
reign  of  darkness  ;   and,  regarded  as  they  were  by  the  mass  of 
the   people   with   implicit  deference,    their   admonitions — that 
knowledge  was  incalculably  pernicious — would  have  induced 
the  latter  to  put  it  away  from  them,  and  to  choose  the  darkness 
rather  than  the  light :  or,  if,  in  any  instance,  they  should  have 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  33 

I  ailed  to  accomplish  their  ohject  by  admonition,  it  would 
liave  been  accomplished  by  force  :  and  thus  it  is  extremely  pro. 
bable,  that  the  gleam  of  light  which  sprung  up  in  Europe  on 
the  discovery  of  the  art  of  printing  would,  by  the  potent  ef- 
forts of  a  priesthood  which  is  the  natural  and  inveterate  ene- 
my of  knowledge,  have  been  soon  extinguished.  At  all  events, 
it  would  have  been  utterly  incompetent  for  effecting  the  much 
needed  renovation  of  European  society.  "  In  the  system  ot 
an  infallible  church,  such  a  reformation  as  is  requisite  becomes 
impossible.  It  is  certain,  that,  at  the  period  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, the  heads  of  the  Papal  religion,  who,  at  first,  had  disco- 
vered nothing  in  the  revival  of  letters  but  glory  and  pleasure, 
or  some  tendency  toward  the  refinement  of  manners,  and  who 
encouraged  them  under  that  idea,  began  to  perceive  their  own 
danger  in  too  much  knowledge,  and  manifested  a  very  distinct 
resistance.  That  opposition  has  not  ceased  in  Austria,  in  Spain, 
in  Italy,  in  the  Netherlands,  where  all  the  means  of  inquisition 
and  censure  were  employed  to  restrain  the  operations  of  mind, 
and  to  turn  improvement  backwards.  Let  any  one  compare  the 
political,  religious,  and  literary  condition  of  the  greater  part 
of  those  countries,  during  the  succeeding  ages,  with  the  con- 
dition of  Saxon  Germany,  of  Holland,  and  England,  in  the 
same  respects:  and  let  him  judge,  without  prejudice,  what 
could  have  been  expected  from  the  same  policy  extended  in 
all  its  rigor  over  Europe  !" 

It  was  the  Reformation  in  religion  that,  by  assailing  the  church 
herself,  and  exposing  to  the  view  of  mankind  the  monstrous  in- 
justice of  her  usurpation,  struck  at  the  root  of  the  evil,  and. 
establishing  freedom  of  investigation  as  the  natural  right  of 
man,  laid  open  tyranny  in  all  its  forms  to  those  invasions,  from 
which,  by  the  abused  sanctities  of  religion,  it  had  too  long  been 
shielded.  "  The  contest,  between  Papal  sovereignty  and  the 
authority  of  General  Councils,  which  was  carried  on  du- 
ring the  fifteenth  century,  elicited  some  of  the  essential  princi- 
ples of  liberty,  which  were  afterwards  applied  to  political  go- 
vernment.    The  revival  of  learning,  by  unfolding  the  principles 


at  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

of  legislation  and  modes  of  government  in  the  republics  of  anci- 
ent Greece  and  Rome,  gradually  led  to  more  liberal  notions  on 
this  subject.  But  these  were  confined  to  a  few,  and  had  no  great 
influence  on  the  general  state  of  society.  The  spirit  infused  by 
philosoi)hy  and  literature  is  too  feeble  and  contracted  to  produce 
radical  reform  of  established  abuses,  and  learned  men,  satisfied 
with  their  own  superior  illumination,  and  the  liberty  of  indulg- 
ing their  speculations,  have  generally  been  too  indifferent,  or 
loo  timid,  to  attempt  the  improvement  of  the  multitude.  It  is  to 
tlie  religious  spirit  excited  during  the  sixteenth  contury,  which 
spread  rapidly  through  Europe,  and  diffused  itself  among  all 
classes  of  men,  that  we  are  chiefly  indebted  for  the  propagation 
of  the  genuine  principles  of  rational  liberty,  and  the  consequent 
melioration  of  government." 

For  a  considerable  time  previous  to  the  Reformation,  there 
were  not  a  few  individuals,  in  various  parts  of  Europe,  who  ut- 
tered loud  complaints  againt  the  pontifical  tyranny,  and  ear- 
nestly desired  a  reformation  of  the  prevailing  abuses.  But  the 
overthrow  of  the  system  they  ventured  not  to  contemplate.  The 
removal  of  some  of  the  appendages  of  Popery  v/as  ,the  utmost 
extent  of  the  wish  which  they  entertained :  to  lay  violent  hands 
on  the  structure  itself,  was  a  measure  of  the  necessity  of  which 
ihcy  were  by  no  means  convinced.  These  were  not  the  men 
for  the  times.  The  accomplishment  of  their  desire  would  have 
done  little  permanent  good  to  mankind.  It  would  have  been  to 
lop  off  from  the  great  poison-tree,  which  was  shedding  its  dead- 
ly influence  over  the  world,  a  few  of  its  branches,  leaving  un- 
touched, and  vigorous  and  fruitful,  its  massy  trunk  and  deep- 
stricken  root,  to  send  forth  other  boughs,  and  to  shed  abroad 
as  deadly  an  influence,  and  to  be  still  the  bane  of  many  an  un- 
born generation.  Nor,  indeed,  although  there  had  been  those 
before  whom  the  futility  of  such  a  partial  measure  as  this  was 
fully  revealed,  and  in  whose  apprehension  it  was  needful  to  stand 
(orth  in  declared  and  decided  opposition  to  the  whole  prevailing 
-ystcm  of  p<ditico-ecclesiastical  oppression,  would  it  have  been 
Mirprising,  if,  contemplating  the  peril  attendant  on  such  a  step. 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY,  35 

ihey  had  shrunk  from  its  adoption.  The  power  to  be  opposed 
was  so  completely  overwhelming-,  and  the  prospect  of  makino 
tiny  impression  upon  it,  not  to  speak  of  its  overthrow — lay  so  far 
beyond  the  range  even  of  probabilities,  that  he  who  would 
have  engaged  in  the  enterprize  must  have  brought  to  it  a  firm- 
ness of  resolution,  and  a  boldness  of  daring,  of  which  there 
have  been  but  few  examples  in  the  history  of  man.  The  place 
of  honor  in  this  instance,  was  really  the  place  of  danger  ;  and,  of 
all  the  men  in  the  world,  the  inhabitant  of  a  monkish  cell — that 
other  name  for  sloth  and  effeminacy — would  be  the  last  whom 
any  one  would  deem  qualiiied  or  disposed  for  its  occupation. 

It  is  perhaps,  beyond  our  power  to  determine  with  pre- 
cision whether  the  opposition  made  by  Luther  to  the  tyranny 
of  Rome  was  or  was  not  the  result  of  design.  There  is,  cer- 
tainly, much  in  his  conduct  that  seems  to  indicate  the  total  ab- 
sence of  any  preconcerted  plan  of  operation.  Seven  years  be- 
fore he  entered  on  the  arduous  career  which  has  immortalized 
his  name,  he  was  deputed  to  Rome  about  the  affairs  of  his  or- 
der ;  and,  indignant  as  he  must  have  felt  at  the  thousand  abomi- 
nations of  the  Pontiiical  Court  w^hich  met  his  eye,  it  does  not 
seem  unlikely  that  there,  the  noble  and  disinterested  wish,  took 
possession  of  his  soul,  to  stem,  if  possible,  the  torrent  of  de- 
pravity which  was  desolating  the  world,  and  to  accomplish  the 
emancipation  of  his  fellow  men  from  what,  he  was  convinced, 
was  the  most  dreadful  and  infatuated  oppression  in  which  they 
could  be  held.  In  the  celebrated  letter  which,  ten  years  after 
that  period,  he  addressed  to  the  Pontiff,  Leo.  X.  he  declares,  in 
strong  language,  the  effect  which  an  acquaintance  with  the  man- 
ners of  the  Pontifical  Court  had  produced  on  his  mind.  He  af- 
firms that  its  corruption  exceeds  that  of  Babylon  and  Sodom— 
that  he  regards  it  as  desperately  wicked — that  it  is  a  most  licen- 
tious den  of  thieves — that  he  deems  its  case  beyond  remedy — 
that,  being  filthy,  it  must  continue  filthy  still — and  that,  as  long 
as  he  preserves  any  thing  of  the  Spirit  of  the  gospel,  he  will 
persevere  in  giving  it  his  determined  opposition.  After  having- 
declared  that   to  the  Pontiff  himself  he  entertained  no  eiimitv. 


:J0  EFFECT    OF    THE  REFORMATION 

anil  alter  having  advised  him  to  resign  the  pontificate  to  those 
sons  of  perdition  for  whom  alone  it  is  now  fit,  "  O  Leo  !"  says 
Luther,  in  a  style  of  bold  admonition  that  admirably  became 
the  Reformer  of  Europe,  "  you  sit  on  a  most  inauspicious  and 
dangerous  throne.  The  more  wicked  and  execrable  your  court 
is,  the  more  readily  do  they  use  your  name  and  authority  to  ruin 
the  fortunes  and  the  souls  of  the  people,  to  multiply  their  vil- 
lanies,  and  to  oppress  the  whole  church  of  God.  I  speak  the 
truth,  because  I  wish  you  well.  If  Bernard,  with  an  honest 
freedom,  deplored  ihe  situation  of  Pope  Eugenius,  at  a  time 
when  there  was  room  for  better  hopes  of  the  Roman  Court, 
though  even  then  very  corrupt,  why  may  not  we,  after  an  accu- 
mulation of  most  ruinous  corruptions  for  upwards  of  three  hun- 
dred years,  be  allowed  to  speak  freely  ?  Those  who  thus  com- 
plain, and  execrate  the  Court  of  Rome,  are  yonr  best  friends, 
and  do  you  the  best  services.  Nothing  can  be  more  opposite  to 
Christ  and  his  religion,  than  the  practices  of  the  Roman  See."  6. 

The  ve^y  first  step  which  Luther  took  in  opposition  to  the 
power  of  Rome  was  decisive.  Burning  with  indignation  at  the 
conduct  of  the  pretended  head  of  the  church  in  claiming  a  right 
to  indulge  mankind  in  the  perpetration  of  crime,  and  to  barter 
for  money,  heaven  and  the  pardon  of  sins,  and  shocked  at  the 
outrages  on  all  morality  which  were  practised  by  the  commis- 
sioned venders  of  these  indulgences,  he  denounced  the  traffic  as 
iniquitous,  called  in  question  the  authority  which  had  sanction- 
ed it,  and  appealed  for  the  truth  of  his  doctrine  to  the  word  of 
God.  7. 

The  court  of  Rome  was  amazed  and  enraged  at  the  audacity 
of  this  disturber  of  the  world's  repose  ;  and,  feeling  that  the 
impeachment  of  its  boasted  infallibility  was  a  blow  struck  at  the 
very  root  of  its  system  of  usurpation,  thundered  its  anathemas 
against  him.  His  opinions  were  denounced  as  heretical  and 
scandalous;  his  writings  were  forbidden  to  be  read  under  pain 
of  excommunication ;  those  who  had  them  in  their  possession 
were  commanded  to  burn  ihem  ;  Luther  himself— if  he  did  not, 
within  sixty  davs,  brinjT  or  send  his  retractation  to  Rome — was 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  3: 

declared  to  be  an  obstinate  heretic,  and  excommunicated  and  de- 
livered over  to  Satan,  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh  ;  and  all 
the  secular  powers  were  required,  under  pain  of  incurring  the 
same  censures,  and  of  forfeiting  all  their  dignities,  to  seize  his 
person,  that  he  might  be  punished  according  to  the  demerit  of 
his  crimes.  A  man  of  another  temper  would  have  been  terrified 
into  instant  submission  by  the  announcement  of  the  papal  displea- 
sure. But  Luther  was  not  thus  to  be  intimidated.  Fearing  God, 
he  feared  none  beside.  Determined  that,  having  once  reared  in 
a  deluded  and  enslaved  world  the  standard  of  truth,  he  would 
rather  die  than  desert  it,  he  heard  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican 
as  the  passing  wind.  "  The  die  is  cast,"  be  exclaimed,  "  papal 
wrath  and  papal  favor  I  alike  despise.  Let  the  Romanists  con- 
demn me,  and  burn  my  book,  and  if,  in  return,  I  do  not  pub- 
licly condemn  and  burn  the  whole  mass  of  pontifical  law,  it  shall 
be  because  I  cannot  find  fire."  He  appealed  from  the  sentence 
of  the  Roman  Pontifif",  characterizing  him  as  "  a  rash,  iniqui- 
tous, tyrannical  judge," — "  a  hardened  heretic  and  apostate" 
•'  an  enemy  and  opposer  of  the  sacred  Scriptures" — and  "  a 
proud,  blasphemous  despiser  of  the  sacred  church  of  God,  and 
of  all  legal  councils."  After  which,  an  immense  pile  of  wood 
having  been  previouly  prepared  for  the  purpose  without  the 
walls  of  Wittemberg,  in  the  presence  of  the  professors  and  stu- 
dents of  the  University,  and  of- a  vast  multitude  of  spectators, 
he  committed  to  the  flames  the  bull  of  his  excommunication, 
and  the  decretals  of  the  pontifical  jurisdiction.  There  is  not  in 
all  history  the  record  of  a  bolder  transaction.  Its  influence  was 
electric.  Mind,  roused  from  its  long  torpor,  burst  forth  into  life 
and  energy.  The  people  having,  by  means  of  Luther's  appeal, 
had  their  attention  directed  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  earnestly 
wished  to  possess  them.  Alas,  they  were  not  to  be  found  !  The 
very  church  that  ought  to  have  exercised  a  vigilant  guardianship 
over  the  Holy  Word,  and  urged  its  careful  study  on  all  her 
members,  had  proved  its  bitterest  foe,  and  had  withdrawn  it  so 
entirely  from  her  degraded  subjects,  that  the  greater  part  of 
them  were  ignorant  of  its  very  existence.     Years  elapsed  beforr 

4 


38  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

the  wisli  of  the  people  to  obtain,  and  of  the  Reformer  to  give 
ihem,  the  Scriptures  in  their  own  language,  could  be  gratified  ; 
and  with  unhallowed  earnestness  did  the  supporters  of  the  papal 
usurpation  labor  to  render  abortive  the  imploring  wish  of  the  one 
and  the  benevolent  design  of  the  other.  But,  by  the  good  pro- 
vidence of  Him  whose  time  had  arrived  for  the  renovation  of 
a  degenerate  world,  the  German  Reformer  was  at  length  ena- 
bled to  publish  among  his  countrymen  a  translation  of  the  New- 
Testament  ;  and  its  appearance  was  of  essential  moment  in  for- 
warding the  Reformation.  Eagerly  did  the  people  peruse  it, 
and  with  utter  astonishment  did  they  perceive  its  infinite  re- 
pugnance to  the  prevailing  superstition.  Thenceforth,  the 
mighty  spell  was  broken  by  which  they  had  been  bound  ;  the 
authority  that  sanctioned  the  evils  under  which  they  groaned 
began  to  be  called  in  question — men  dared  to  think,  to  reason,  to 
examine ;  and  that  glorious  peculiarity  of  Protestantism,  the 
right  of  private  judgment,  was  established  on  an  immovable 
basis. 

The  cause  of  the  Reformation  was  embraced  and  advocated 
by  the  most  enlighteued  and  eloquent  men  of  the  age.  Me- 
lancthon  in  Germany,  Zuinglius  in  Switzerland,  Calvin  in 
France,  and  Knox  in  Scotland,  with  a  host  of  other  eminently 
pious  and  talented  men,  devoted  themselves  to  its  interest,  and 
labored  for  its  advancement ;  nor  had  many  years  gone  past 
from  the  period  of  its  commencement,  till,  in  every  part  of 
Christendom,  multitudes  had  withdrawn  from  the  communion, 
and  rejected  the  authority  of  the  Roman  church  ;  while  in  not 
a  few  of  the  states  of  Europe,  the  papal  supremacy  was  formally 
and  publicly  disclaimed. 

Now,  it  is  true  that  the  revolution,  at  whose  initiatory  historv 
we  have  glanced,  did,  in  the  first  place,  operate  on  religion  : 
and  the  effect  which  it  produced  on  the  religious  state  of  Europe 
was  of  immense  importance.  To  have  rescued  the  one-half  of 
Europe  entirely,  and  the  other  partially,  from  the  spiritual  ju- 
risdiction of  the  Roman  Pontiffs,  was  a  great  achievement — 
an  achievement   to  Avhich  may  be  traced  all  the  triumphs  that 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  39 

genuine  religion  lias  since  obtained  throughout  the  world.  But 
the  Reformation  did  more.  It  annihilated  throughout  Europe 
the  secular  power  of  the  Roman  See ;  and,  when  we  mention 
this,  we  record  a  triumph  which  the  progress  of  literature  ne- 
ver could  have  gained,  Only  in  one  point  was  the  system 
vulnerable  ;  and  upon  that  point  literature  was  not  calculated  to 
bear.  The  foundation  of  the  great  fabric  was  laid  deep  in  those 
religious  opinions  which,  even  from  infancy,  were  assiduousl) 
instilled  into  the  popular  mind  ;  and  there  any  impression  which 
was  intended  to  be  effectual  and  permanent  behoved  to  be 
made.  There,  accordingly,  the  Reformation  did  make  an  im- 
pression, and  that  impression  was  both  effectual  and  permanent. 
Long  had  mystical  Babylon,  proud  as  her  predecessor  of  the 
ancient  world,  sitten  secure  in  her  own  greatness,  and  scorn- 
fully smiled  at  all  her  foes.  The  winds  and  the  tempests  ol 
many  generations  had  assailed  her  in  vain ;  she  seemed  to  gain 
strength  from  opposition,  and  to  outbrave  even  the  vengeance 
of  heaven  :  but  the  time  of  retribution  was  come ;  touched  bv 
that  word  which  is  "  the  breath"  of  the  Most  High,  as  if  light- 
ning from  the  skies  had  underminded  her  base,  she  fell:  and 
left  to  the  view  of  posterity  the  melancholy  wrecks  of  the 
grandeur  which,  in  preceding  ages,  astonished  and  awed  the 
kingdoms  of  the  earth. 

The  endurance  which  the  pontifical  domination  had  experi- 
enced, during  so  many  hundreds  of  years,  was  owing  to  the 
influence  of  religious  belief  on  the  credulous  minds  of  the  su- 
perstitious multitude.  The  right  of  the  Pontiffs  to  sovereign 
power  was  acknowledged  generally  throughout  Christendom, 
and,  as  the  gift  of  heaven,  was  held  inviolable.  But  the  light 
of  Reformation  that  burst  forth  upon  the  world,  put  to  flight 
the  darkness  and  delusions  of  a  thousand  years.  Utterly  at  va- 
riance with  the  will  of  heaven  as  the  existing  ecclesiastical  su- 
premacy was  found  to  be,  still  more  monstrous,  if  possible, 
seemed  that  secular  dominion,  wherewith  it  had  been  long  as- 
sociated. On  the  latter,  therefore,  descended  the  vengeance 
that  visited  the  former.     England,  Scotland,  Holland,  Denmark, 


40  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

Sweden,  the  half  of  Germany,  and  more  than  the  half  of  Swit- 
zerland, disclaiming  the  authority  of  the  Pontifical  Court,  with- 
drew the  tribute  which  had  been  the  badge  of  their  slavery,  and 
spurned  away  from  them  those  degrading  laws,  to  which,  duriug 
(he  ages  of  darkness,  their  homage  had  been  paid. 

Nor  was  it  only  in  the  nations  which,  from  that  period,  were 
called  Protestant,  that  the  Reformation  affected  the  secular 
power  of  the  court  of  Rome.  9.  This  was  the  case  even  in  Pa- 
pal countries.  In  most  of  them  the  power  of  the  Pope  was 
gradually  circumscribed,  and  a  very  considerable  abatement 
look  place  in  the  veneration  with  w^hich  his  authority  was 
regarded.  Many  times  since  then  has  the  head  of  the  Church 
been  treated,  even  by  Popish  princes,  as  an  object  of  extreme 
insignificance  ;  and  many  times  has  he  been  employed  as  the 
wretched  tool  of  their  ambition.  The  Popes  have  been  aware 
of  this  abatement  of  respect  for  their  authority,  and  have  yield- 
ed, with  sullen  reluctance,  to  the  dire  necessity  of  the  times. 
The  spirit  of  their  system  has  not  been  less  intolerant  and 
fierce,  but  it  has  been  compelled  to  endure  severe  repression. 
They  have  not  relinquished  their  pretensions  to  universal 
power ;  but  they  have  asserted  them  more  sparingly,  and  with 
diminished  confidence.  Times  without  number,  since  the  Re- 
formation, have  they  interfered  in  the  affairs  of  kings  and  king- 
doms, and,  too  often,  they  have  not  interfered  in  vain ;  yet  has 
not  their  interference  experienced,  even  from  her  own  children, 
the  profound  veneration  which,  in  the  ages  before  Luther,  it 
was  accustomed  to  receive.  "  From  that  time,  the  appearance 
of  respect  has  been  only  vain  ceremony.  It  was  too  well 
known  that  the  Vatican  was  only  a  volcano  exhausted.  What 
issued  spontaneously  from  Rome  was  impotent  ad  unavailing ; 
whilst  a  single  courier  despatched  from  Paris,  from  Vienna,  or 
liisbon,  toward  that  ancient  capital  of  the  world,  extorted  from 
it — sometimes  a  bull  for  the  extinction  of  a  religious  order, 
sometimes  a  regulation — so  many  proofs  of  submission  given 
by  the  feeble  successor  of  so  many  haughty  pontiffs,  who  onl} 
purchased  his  precarious  existence  at  the  price  of  all  the  com 
Dliiinrcs  exacted  from  him.'- 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  41 

The  surprising  events  which  took  place  in  the  political  world 
about  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  seemed  to  in- 
dicate that  the  period  was  at  hand  when  the  nations  were  to  en- 
joy an  entire  riddance  from  the  oppressions  of  that  unholy 
power,  which  has  trampled  so  long  on  their  dearest  interests : 
and  the  prospect  of  such  a  deliverance  was  cheering  to  the 
hearts  of  the  friends  of  liberty  and  of  mankind.  In  this  san- 
guine language,  did  one  of  these  friends  of  humanity  declare  his 
anticipations  :  "  The  French  Revolution  has  been  peculiarly  in- 
strumental in  bringing  the  Pope  to  the  last  stage  of  degrada- 
tion ;  his  territories  overrun  and  pillaged  again  and  again  ;  he 
himself  compelled  to  every  species  of  submission  ;  and  the  holy 
chair  itself  kept  empty,  till  it  suited  the  convenience  of  the  re- 
publican and  atheistical  chiefs  to  place  in  it  a  vicar  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  temporal  power  of  the  Pope  is  completely  des- 
troyed by  the  republic,  and  he  is  one  of  the  meanest  of  the 
vassals  of  Bonaparte.  This  is  not  only  seen  and  felt  by  the 
princes  of  Europe  ;  there  is  hardly  a  monk  or  a  peasant  in  the 
darkest  papal  corner  of  Europe  who  is  not  sensible  of  it.  It 
is  now  visible  to  every  votary  of  the  Holy  See,  that  the  Pope 
has  nothing  to  give.  His  vast  patronage  stimulated  the  zeal  ot 
those  votaries  in  former  times ;  and  we  may  now  expect  to  see 
speed)^  changes  in  the  state  of  Romanism  wherever  it  exists." 

Unhappily,  subsequent  events  have  placed  these  desirable 
changes  at  a  greater  distance  than  were  anticipated.  The  set- 
tlement which  was  made  of  the  affairs  of  Europe,  posterior  to 
the  final  overthrow  of  him  whom  Divine  Providence  raised  up 
to  be  her  most  dreadful  scourge,  is  of  a  complexion  altogether 
hostile  to  the  interests  of  freedom  ;  and,  surely,  the  Protestant 
princes,  when  they  lent  their  assistance  to  the  re-establishment 
of  that  power  which  delights  to  trampk  on  the  most  sacred  pri- 
vileges of  man,  acted  in  another  spirit  than  that  of  the  Re- 
formation. But  we  confidently  hope,  that  its  re-establishment 
will  be  for  a  short  period ;  that  efforts  to  repair  the  crumbling 
walls  of  that  fabric  which  the  Reformation  greatly  demolished 
will  be  all  in  vain  ;  that  the  tendency  toward  nn  improved  staff 

4* 


vt  EFFECT    OF    THE  REFOTlMATlON 

t  society  which,  in  the  16th  century,  was  imparted  to  the  cur- 
ent  of  human  affairs,  will  not  now  be  successfully  opposed; 
and  that,  in  short,  the  contest  which  the  foes  of  their  species 
are  waging,  for  the  recovery  of  their  lost  ascendency,  will 
prove  to  be  their  expiring  struggle,  and  will  usher  in  the 
final  triumph  of  omnipotent  truth. 

There  is  ground  for  the  indulgence  of  these  cheering  hopes. 
There  are  events  taking  place  in  the  religious  world,  by  which 
they  are  more  than  sanctioned.  Protestantism  is  "  the  cause 
of  man,"  and  its  basis  is  the  Bible.  Aware  of  this,  the  friends 
of  the  Reformation  and  of  their  species  have  roused  their  ener- 
gies to  the  task  of  disseminating  the  Scriptures  among  their 
fellow  men;  and,  mr,re  than  all  their  predecessors,  are  Chris* 
tians  of  this  age  distinguished  for  their  exertions  in  this  enter- 
prise of  beneficence.  It  has  not  been  the  only  object  of  these 
best  friends  of  their  race  to  send  the  book  of  God  into  the  ne- 
gro's hut,  and  abroad  over  the  dreary  wilds  of  heathenism  ;  the 
millions  of  their  unhappy  brethren  whom  the  genius  of  Popery 
holds  in  bondage,  have  come  within  the  range  of  their  com- 
passionate regard  ;  and  we  trust  that  the  progress — we  will  not 
say  of  reason  and  philosophy,  the  cant  phrase  of  some  specu- 
lators about  human  improvement,  but — of  the  Bible  and  Chris- 
tianity, will  ere  long  eradicate  the  last  remains  of  that  atrocious 
'jystem,  which,  during  so  many  ages,  has  triumphed  over  the 
weakness  of  humanity,  and  will  blot  out  its  remembrance  from 
that  world  which  it  has  too  long  polluted. 

It  was  not  long  till  the  destructive  blow  which  had  been  given 
lo  the  power  of  Rome  began  to  affect,  most  materially,  the  po- 
litical governments  of  the  nations  of  Europe.  The  posses- 
ion, on  the  part  of  the  Pontifical  Court,  of  its  spiritual  and 
temporal  power,  was  accompanied  with  this  aggravation,  that 
that  power  was  the  guardian  of  all  the  other  modes  of  tyranm 
which  existed  among  the  nations  of  western  Europe.  Their 
princes  and  iheir  subjects  were  alike  devoted,  in  soul  and  body, 
to  the  interests  of  the  church ;  and,  for  the  support  which  the 
tormer  yielded  to  its  arrogant  claims,  they  were  invested  with 


ON  CIVIL  LIREBTY  43 

absolute  authority  over  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  the  latter ; 
whilst  these,  believing — as  they  were  taught  by  those  to  whose 
teaching  they  listened  with  implicit  deference — that  the  power 
of  their  monarchs  was  divinely  communicated,  esteemed  their 
persons  sacred,  and  were  prepared  tamely  to  acquiesce  in  all 
their  measures.  It  was  thus  that  the  preposterous  maxim — thai 
kings  are  possessed  of  a  divine  right  to  govern,  independently 
of  the  will  of  their  subjects,  derived  its  origin — a  principle  so 
utterly  hostile  to  rational  liberty,  that  it  could  have  been  intro- 
duced only  in  those  ages  in  which  men,  ceasing  to  reason,  had 
given  themselves  up,  bound  hand  and  foot,  to  be  the  slaves  of  a 
cruel  and  lying  priesthood.  Of  this  state  of  proud  domination, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  deep  humiliation  on  the  other,  the  church 
was  the  protectress  ;  and  out  of  it,  mankind  could  he  delivered 
only  by  the  previous  overthrow  of  her  power.  That  overthrow, 
the  Reformation  accomplished.  Letting  in  on  the  minds  of  the 
people  the  light  of  divine  truth,  and  exhibiting,  from  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  the  baselessness  of  the  existing  system  of  religion, 
it  inspired  them  with  contempt  for  the  authority  of  the  church 
by  which  that  religion  was  sanctioned,  and  effected  in  some  na- 
tions the  total,  in  others  the  partial  overthrow,  of  her  domina- 
tion. Nor,  when  once  the  fetters  forged  and  imposed  by  the 
church  were  broken  and  cast  away,  and  men  felt  themselves 
emancipated  from  her  thraldom,  was  it  long  till  the  political  go- 
vernments of  the  world  began,  in  a  similar  manner,  to  experi- 
ence the  meliorating  influence  of  the  Reformation.  The  con- 
troversy which  was  carried  on  respecting  religious  freedom, 
and  the  investigation  which  it  originated,  elicited  not  a  iew  of  the 
principles  of  civil  liberty,  and  threw  considerable  light  on  the  sub- 
subject  of  political  government.  "  The  authority  of  the  church  be- 
ings in  some  places,  strictJy  conjoined  with  the  authority  of  the 
state,  and  in  others  altogether  confounded  with  it,  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  examine  and  discuss  the  rights  of  the  one,  without  extend- 
ing the  investigation  also  to  the  rights  of  the  other.  Men  inquired 
by  what  right  the  Popes  pretended  to  raise  up  and  east  down 
kings ;  and  this  naturally  conducted  to  the  inquiry,  by  what  autho- 


41  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

rity  kings  were  originally  set  up  !  When  the  respective  rights  of 
the  church  and  state  were  discussed,  it  was  difficult,  from  this 
important  topic,  not  to  turn  sometimes  to  the  rights  of  the  people. 
It  was  ascertained  that  the  community,  regarded  as  a  religious 
association,  that  is  to  say,  as  a  church,  had  a  right  to  ch»ose  its 
own  pastorSf  and  to  draw  up  its  own  creed.  It  was  most  natu- 
ral from  this  to  conclude,  that  the  same  community,  as  a  po- 
litical association,  had  a  right  to  elect  its  own  magistrates,  and 
to  form  its  own  constitution.  The  Emperor  opposed  the  new 
religious  creed.  Men  then  inquired,  if,  in  matters  of  faith, 
they  ought  to  obey  the  Emperor.  In  1531,  the  Faculties  of 
Law  and  Theology  in  the  University  of  Wittemberg  answered 
unanimously  in  the  negative.  From  that  time,  all  discussion 
turned  only  on  the  limits  of  that  obedience  which  is  due  to  so- 
vereigns, and  of  that  resistance  which  may  be  opposed  to  them." 

The  writings  of  the  Reformers  merit  to  be  regarded  as  the 
principal  source  of  the  brilliant  light  which,  in  modern  times, 
has  been  poured  on  this  interesting  subject-  They  were  the 
first  persons  in  the  modern  world  who  wrote  on  it  with  freedom, 
and  in  a  strain  of  manly  eloquence  that  forms  a  pleasing  and 
dignified  contrast  to  all  that  prostration  of  sentiment  and  feeling 
which  impresses  such  disgusting  features  on  the  productions  of 
preceding  times.  Indeed,  although  it  were  true  that,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  political  government,  the  writings  of  the  Reformers  con- 
tained nothing  worthy  of  being  remembered,  the  very  fact  that 
they  did  write  on  that  subject,  and  that  they  wrote  on  it  with 
freedom — a  phenomenon  which,  during  many  ages,  the  world 
liad  not  beheld — would  entitle  them  to  be  esteemed  the  libera- 
tors of  Europe.  They  held  forth  a  glorious  example  to  the 
world — they  opened  up  the  way  which  many  have  since  suc- 
cessfully trod :  and  are  entitled  to  the  praise  of  having  done  an 
immensely  important  service  to  the  interests  of  freedom. 

But  the  Reformers  were  not  mere  declaimers  about  liberty  : 
they  were  its  firm,  enlightened  and  consistent  advocates.  They 
wished  to  see  the  people  in  possession  of  that  freedom  from 
•mjust  constraint,  which  the  word  of  "God  declares  to  be  thr 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  45 

inalienable  privilege  of  man.  But  this  privilege,  they  perceiv- 
ed, could  not  be  enjoyed,  so  long  as  the  monstrous  doctrine  of 
the  divine  right  of  kings,  and  of  passive  obedience  on  the  part 
of  subjects,  maintained  its  sway  in  the  midst  of  the  multitude. 
This  principle  they  regarded  as  lying  at  the  foundation  of  all 
the  political  tyranny  that  existed,  and,  therefore,  against  it  they 
placed  themselves  in  the  attitude  of  resolute  and  persevering 
hostility.  It  is,  indeed,  true,  that  they  did  not  take  this  en- 
lightened view  of  the  subject  with  equal  rapidity.  They  had 
been,  with  the  multitude,  the  slaves  of  the  common  belief;  and 
out  of  the  trammels  of  this  belief  some  of  them  escaped  at  a 
much  later  period  than  their  brethren.  There  was  a  time,  for 
example,  when  the  Saxon  Reformer,  even  after  he  had  enter- 
ed on  his  interesting  career,  was  the  assertor  of  passive  obedi- 
ence— could  not  bring  his  mind  to  the  adoption  of  the  opinion, 
urged  upon  him,  as  it  was,  at  once  by  reason  and  revelation, 
that  the  oppressive  measures  of  rulers  may  be  resisted  by  their 
people.  Nor,  indeed,  ought  this  to  excite  our  surprise.  It 
cannot  appear  wonderful  to  any  consid,erate  mind,  that  senti- 
ments on  the  subject  of  freedom,  so  entirely  the  reverse  of  those 
which  they  had  been  long  accustomed  to  deem  orthodox,  should 
have  obtained  the  acquiescence  of  the  Reformers  by  slow  de- 
grees. The  influence  which  old  opinions  and  old  attachments 
exert  on  the  mind,  is  always  too  powerful  to  be  at  once  over- 
come ;  and,  in  many  cases,  the  control  which  they  acquire  over 
all  its  feelings  is  so  complete,  as  to  baflle  every  attempt  at  con- 
viction, and  to  seal  it  up  in  impenetrable  darkness.  In  the  his- 
tory of  Christianity  we  find  a  mournfully  striking  illustration  of 
this  remark.  Its  divine  origin  is  demonstrated,  beyonc  .ne  pos- 
sibility of  reasonable  doubt,  by  the  evidence  of  miracles  and 
prophecy,  as  well  as  by  the  sublimity  and  purity  of  its  own 
doctrines  and  precepts ;  yet  are  we  assured,  that,  in  its  primitive 
age,  there  were  many,  not  only  among  the  Jews,  but  also 
among  the  enlightened  Greeks,  who,  professing  to  be  fired  with 
the  love  of  wisdom  and  of  truth,  did  nevertheless,  on  account 
of  its  opposition  to  their  confirmed  modes  of  thinking,  put  il 


46  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

away  from  them  as  a  system  of  folly ;  and  even  in  this  our  own 
age  of  vaunted  illumination,  there  are  many,  who,  mighty  in 
pretensions  to  candour  and  liberality  of  mind,  and  perfect  free- 
dom from  every  thing  like  prejudice,  do,  nevertheless,  under  the 
influence  of  a  system  revolting  to  the  best  feelings  of  our  na- 
ture, and  as  destitute  of  ground  to  stand  upon  as  "  the  baseless 
fabric  of  a  vision,"  talk  of  the  evidence  of  the  truth  of  our  re- 
liorion  as  a  falsehood,  and  spurn  the  volume  in  which  it  is  embo- 
died away  from  them !  Unhappy  men !  how  much  they  deserve 
our  deep  commiseration  !  What  a  state  of  wretchedness  is  theirs  ! 
Gloriously  as  they  suppose  themselves  to  have  broken  loose  from 
all  the  trammels  of  system,  and  far  exalted  as  they  deem  them- 
selves to  be  above  all  the  prejudices  of  the  vulgar,  they  are,  in 
very  deed,  the  dupes  of  prejudices  more  glaringly  unreasonable 
than  any  that  ever  were  entertained,  and  the  very  slaves  of  the 
coldest,  and  gloomiest,  and  most  delusive  system,  that  ever  was 
presented  to  the  faith  of  mankind! 

Of  other  tempers,  and  of  a  different  character,  were  the  Re- 
formers of  Europe.  They  had  that  thirst  for  knowledge  which 
led  them  to  search  after  truth ;  but,  happily  for  themselves  and 
for  mankind,  they  had  also  that  candor,  and  that  docihty  of 
mind,  which,  when  truth  was  found,  led  them  to  embrace  it. 
The  advances,  indeed,  which  they  made  towards  enlightened 
views  on  the  subjects  of  poUtics,  as  well  as  on  the  subject  of 
religion,  were  gradual ;  and  it  could  not  be  but  that  this  circum- 
stance should  have  imparted  to  their  opinions,  expressed  at  dif- 
ferent times,  a  character  of  inconsistency.  The  Saxon  Reformer, 
was  considerably  later  than  his  brethren  in  acquiring  correct 
ideas  of  the  duty  which  subjects  owe  to  their  poHtical  rulers. 
The  notions  which  he  had  imbibed,  respecting  the  spiritual  na- 
ture of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  the  unlawfulness  of  defend- 
ing it  by  secular  power,  rendered  him,  for  a  time,  the  advo- 
cate of  passive  obedience.  He  could  not  bring  his  mind  to  ac- 
knowledge the  propriety  of  resisting  encroachments  on  religi- 
ous rights,  and  of  preventing  their  destruction,  by  opposing 
force  to  force.     But  an  obstinate  attachment  to  sentiments,  on 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  47 

this  subject,  so  much  at  variance  with  both  reason  and  Scrip- 
ture, was  not  destined  to  form  a  blot  in  the  character  of  Luther. 

"  If  thou  mayest  be  free,  use  it  rather,"  says  the  Apostle : 
"  a  maxim,  which  is  applicable  by  just  analogy  to  political,  as 
well  as  to  domestic  freedom.  The  Christian  religion  natively 
tends  to  cherish  and  diffuse  a  spirit  favorable  to  civil  liberty ; 
and  this,  in  its  turn,  has  the  most  happy  influence  on  Christi- 
anity, which  never  flourished  extensively,  and  for  a  long  pe- 
riod, in  any  country  where  despotism  prevailed.  It  must, 
therefore,  be  the  duty  of  e\£ery  Christian,  to  exert  himself  for 
the  acquisition  and  the  defence  of  this  invaluable  blessing.  Al- 
though Christianity  ought  not  to  be  propagated  by  force  of  arms, 
yet  the  external  liberty  of  professing  it  may  be  vindicated  in 
that  way,  both  against  foreign  invaders,  and  against  domestic 
tyrants :  and,  if  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  or  their 
right  to  remove  religions  abuses,  enter  into  the  grounds  of  the 
struggle  which  a  nation  maintains  against  oppressive  rulers,  the 
cause  becomes  of  vastly  more  importance ;  its  justice  is  more 
unquestionable ;  and  it  is  still  more  worthy,  not  only  of  their 
prayers  and  petitions,  but  of  their  blood  and  treasure,  than  if 
it  had  been  maintained  solely  for  the  purpose  of  securing  their 
fortunes,  or  of  acquiring  some  mere  worldly  advantage.  And 
to  those  whose  minds  are  not  warped  by  prejudice,  and  who  do 
not  labor  under  a  confusion  of  ideas  on  the  subject,  it  must  sure- 
ly appear  paradoxical  to  assert,  that,  while  God  has  granted  to 
subjects  a  right  to  take  the  sword  of  just  defence  for  securing 
objects  of  a  temporary  and  inferior  nature,  he  has  prohibited 
them  from  using  this  remedy,  and  left  them  at  the  mercy  of 
every  lawless  despot,  with  respect  to  a  concern  the  most  im- 
portant of  all,  whether  it  be  viewed  as  relating  to  his  own  hon- 
or, or  to  the  welfare  of  mankind." 

In  this  light  was  the  subject  at  last  regarded  by  Luther  ;  nor 
was  he  ashamed,  in  the  face  of  the  world,  to  acknowledge  the 
change  which  his  sentiments  had  undergone.  At  the  consulta- 
tion in  which  the  league  of  Smalcald — tkat  first  and  honor- 
ble  stand  which  the  Protestant  princes  made  against  their  op- 


48  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

pressors — was  formed,  he  made  the  candid  confession,  that,  in 
writing,  as  he  had  formerly  done,  against  all  resistance  in  de- 
fence of  religion,  he  had  erred ;  and  that,  understanding  the 
subject  as  he  now  did,  it  was  his  conviction,  that,  in  full  ac- 
cordance with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  and  with  the  political 
law,  a  defensive  confederacy  on  behalf  of  the  Reformed  faith 
might  be  entered  into  if  the  Emperor,  or  any  in  his  name, 
should  attempt  its  overthrow.  So  great,  indeed,  was  the  change 
which  took  place  in  the  sentiments  of  the  Reformer  on  this  sub- 
ject, that  the  advocates  of  the  ancient  system  very  gravely, 
though  very  unjustly,  charged  him  with  the  crime  of  sedition. 
•'  At  present,"  are  his  own  words,  "  they  accuse  me  of  being  a 
seditious  person,  because,  forsooth,  I  have  written  on  the  secu- 
lar power,  wisely  and  usefully,  and  so  as  no  doctor  has  done 
since  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  except,  perhaps,  Augustin. 
This  is  what  I  can  declare  with  a  good  conscience,  and  of  w  hich 
ihe  world  can  bear  me  witness."     10. 

But,  while  it  is  true  that  the  political  opinions  of  the  Saxon 
Reformer  did  experience  the  change  to  which  we  have  adverted, 
there  is  not  the  slightest  ground  for  affirming — that  that  change 
was  any  thing  else  than  the  result  of  thorough  conviction.  Con- 
siderations of  a  selfish  nature  his  magnanimous  soul  would  have 
spurned  away  from  him ;  and  there  was  every  thing  in  his  cha- 
racter to  induce  us  to  believe  that  he  was  too  honest  to  he  sway- 
ed by  the  principle  of  expediency.  It  was  the  pious  regard 
which  he  entertained  for  the  Bible,  and  the  firm  resolution  which 
fie  had  adopted,  ever  to  resign  himself  to  its  guidance,  that  in- 
duced him  to  act  as  he  did  ;  and,  it  were  well  for  the  interests 
of  Christianity,  if  all  the  opinions  of  its  professors  were  the 
result  of  as  much  honest  investigation,  and  of  as  profound  res- 
pect for  the  dictates  of  Scripture,  and  of  right  reason,  as  cha- 
racterized the  decisions  of  this  great  man. 

Ilis  amiable  preceptor  and  coadjutor — whom  Luther  was  w^ont 
to  call  "  the  most  learned  and  truly  Grecian  Philip  Melancthon" 
— entertained  the  same  liberal  and  enlightened  sentiments  on 
this  interesting  subject;  and  when  we  consider  that  tlie  wide 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  49 

range  of  topics  embraced  by  his  Lectures  would  afford  him 
many  opportunities  of  discussing  and  adverting  to  it,  and  more- 
over, that  those  lectures  were  listened  to  by  an  audience  of  fre- 
quently more  than  two  thousand  individuals,  we  cannot  enter- 
tain a  doubt,  that,  in  a  very  extensive  sphere,  indeed,  the  in- 
fluence of  his  opinions  was  experienced.     Gentle  and  yielding 
in  his  disposition  as  he  is  reported  to  have  been,  on  that  point, 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  for  a  considerable  time  a  subject 
of  perplexing  doubt  to  his  Reforming  friend,  he  speaks  with  an 
air  of  firmness  and  decision,  that  marks  it  to  have  been,  in  his 
mind,  by  no  means  a  matter  of  doubtful  dispute.     "  The  Gos- 
pel, affords  us  ample  warrant  to  act  in  political  matters  agree- 
ably to  the  dictates  of  right  reason.     It  sanctions  the  principle  of 
resistance  to  oppression.     Indeed,  were  this  not  the  case — were 
this  principle  not  recognized  by  it — the  Gospel  would  be  trans- 
formed into  a  political  code,  beneath  the  shelter  of  which  the 
grossest  tyranny  might  find  protection."     "  We  commend  our- 
selves and  our  cause  to  God,"  was  his  unhesitating  reply,  at 
another  time,  to  Cardinal  Campegius  and  his  party,  who  were 
using  the  most  strenuous  efforts  to  induce  him  to  relinquish  his 
adherence  to  the  Protestant  Confession — "  we  commend  our- 
selves and  our  cause  to  God.     If  He  be  for  us,  who  can  be 
against  us  ?  In  our  provinces  we  have  upwards  of  forty  thousand 
persons,  including  poor  ministers,  their  families  and  parishion- 
ers, whose  spiritual  interest  we  cannot  abandon,  but  will  do 
whatsoever  we  are  able  for  them,  supplicating  the  help  of   Je- 
sus Christ,  whose  cause  we  espouse,  and  on  behalf  of  whom 
we  are  prepared  to  labor  with  patience,  and  to  endure  all  dif- 
ficulties.    If  it  he  necessary,  we  would — if  such  he  the  will  of 
God — rather  fight  and  die,  than  hetray  so  many  sowZs." 

In  other  parts  of  Europe,  did  the  Reformers  proclaim  them- 
selves the  friends  of  freedom,  and,  with  all  the  weight  of  their 
influence,  with  all  that  manly  boldness  which  marked  them  out 
as  really  the  men  for  the  times,  did  they  establish  the  principle 
of   resistance   to  tyranny,    in   whatsoever    shape  it  appeared. 


50  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

"  Stand  firm,"  said  Zuinglius,  the  Swiss  Reformer,  to  the  mi- 
nisters of  Uhn  and  Meningen,  who  requested  his  advice  con- 
cerning the  part  which  they  ought  to  act,  in  consequence  of  the 
Emperor's  expressed  determination  to  restore  in  som'e  of  the  im- 
perial cities  the  Roman  superstitions — "  Stand  firm  to  the  truth, 
and  promise  the  Emperor  obedience,  provided  he  does  not  touch 
your  religion.  If  he  shall  refuse  these  terms,  then  tell  him  how 
much  you  lament  that  he  should  be  so  ill  advised  as  to  suppose 
he  possesses  a  power  over  your  consciences — a  power  which  no 
pious  Emperor  did  ever  assume,  and  which  no  man  could  ever 
give — and  that,  therefore,  there  is  nothing  which  you  will  not 
hazard  rather  than  give  way  in  this  matter  to  any  authority  save 
that  of  the  Word  of  God.  When  the  Papists,  shall  perceive 
your  resolute  determination,  they  will  not  venture  to  employ 
force  against  you.  They  know  very  well,  that,  if  they  go  to  war, 
their  possessions  are  liable  to  be  plundered  by  the  soldiery,  and 
that,  after  all,  the  issue  is  doubtful.  Besides,  if  the  Romish 
hierarchy,  nay,  if  any  authority  what-oever,  should  begin  to 
oppress  the  Gospel,  and  if  we,  through  negligence,  shall  submit 
to  the  encroachment,  I  maintain  that  we  are  as  guilty  of  denying 
the  truth  as  the  oppressors  themselves.  Already  have  ye  broken 
offmuchof  the  Roman  yoke.  What  folly,  then,  now  to  submit,  in 
spiritual  things,  to  the  Emperor's  authority,  which  is  entirely  de- 
rived from  these  very  Papal  pretensions  which  you  have  rejected." 
In  the  spirited  language  of  this  dauntless  patriot,  may  the 
people  of  Scotland  perceive  a  striking  resemblance  to  those  po- 
tent strains,  by  which,  as  if  some  supernatural  impulse  had 
seized  them,  their  ancestors  of  the  sixteenth  censury  were  rous- 
ed to  the  task  of  their  country's  emancipation.  Knox  was  no 
less  the  advocate  of  freedom  than  his  continental  brethren  ; 
and,  as  the  assertor  of  her  freedom,  it  will  not  be  easy  to  ex- 
press the  debt  of  gratitude  which  his  country  owes  him.  His 
discourses,  characterized  by  an  eloquence  that  overpowered  his 
auditors,  and  carried  them  completely  along  with  them — and  in- 
deed all  his  writings   that  have  been  transmiltod  to  us,  display 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  51 

his  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  which  we  are  treating,  to  have 
entirely  coincided  with  those  by  which  British  Protestants  have 
been  generally  distinguished,  and  which  are  regarded  as  forming 
the  basis  of  British  policy.  "  Now,  no  farther  to  trouble  you 
at  present,"  is  his  language,  at  one  time,  written  from  the  con- 
tinent to  the  nobility  of  Scotland,  "  I  will  only  advertise  you 
of  such  report  as  I  hear  in  these  parts  uncertainly  noised  : 
Avhich  is  this — that  contradiction  and  rebellion  is  made  to  the 
authority  by  some  in  your  realm.  In  which  point,  my  consci- 
ence will  not  suffer  me  to  keep  back  from  you  my  counsel,  yea 
my  judgment  and  commandment,  that  none  of  you  who  seek  to 
promote  the  glory  of  Christ,  do  suddenly  disobey  or  displease 
the  established  authority  in  any  thing  lawful ;  nor  that  you  as- 
sist or  fortify  such  as,  for  their  own  particular  cause,  and  world- 
ly promotion,  would  trouble  the  same.  But  in  the  bonds  of  Je- 
sus Christ,  I  exhort  you,  that,  with  all  simplicity  and  lawful  obe- 
dience, wtth  boldness  in  God,  and  with  open  profession  of  your 
faith,  you  seek  the  favor  of  the  authority — that,  by  it,  if  possible, 
the  cause  in  which  you  labor  may  be  promoted,  or,  at  least,  not 
persecuted ;  which  thing,  if,  after  all  humble  request,  you  can- 
not obtain,  then,  with  solemn  and  open  protestation  of  your 
obedience  to  be  given  to  the  authority  in  all  things  not  plainly 
displeasing  to  God,  you  may  lawfully  attempt  the  extremity 
which  is,  to  provide,  whether  the  authority  will  consent  or  not, 
that  Christ's  Gospel  may  be  truly  preached,  arid  his  holy  sacra- 
ments rightly  administered  unto  you,  and  to  your  brethren,  the 
subjects  of  that  realm.  And,  farther,  you  lawfully  may,  yea, 
thereto  are  bound,  to  defend  your  brethren  from  persecution  and, 
tyranny,  be  it  against  princes  or  emperors,  to  the  uttermost  of 
your  power  ;  providing,  always,  as  I  have  said, that  neither  your- 
selves deny  lawful  obedience,  nor  yet  that  you  assist  or  promote 
those  that  seek  an  authority  or  pre-eminence  of  worldly  glory." 

To  none  of  the  Reformers,  however,  were  the  nations  of 
Europe  more  signally  indebted  for  the  introduction  of  correct 
and  enlightened  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  government,  than 


:,2  EFFECT    OF    THK  REFORMATION 

to  the  celebrated  Calvin.  His  work,  entitled,  "  Institutiones 
Christianae  Religionis,"  although  it  was  published  by  him  when 
he  was  at  the  early  age  of  tvrenty-five  years,  is  one  of  the  no- 
blest monuments  that  genius,  combined  with  piety,  ever  reared  . 
and,  distinguished  as  it  is  by  an  elegance  of  style,  that  would 
not  have  dishonored  the  best  writers  of  the  classic  ages,  and  a 
precision  of  statement  which  is  altogether  astonishing,  consider- 
ing the  wide  range  of  subject  embraced  by  it,  and  that  its  author 
had  just  escaped  from  darkness  which  might  be  felt,  we  need 
not  wonder,  that,  in  a  few  years  it  should  have  obtained  a  very 
extensive  circulation.  One  part  of  his  book  he  devoted  ex- 
pressly to  the  subject  of  government,  and,  notwithstanding  all 
the  light  which  has  been  poured  on  that  subject  in  succeeding 
ages,  it  will  not  be  easy  to  point  out  a  work,  in  which  there  is 
contained,  in  so  small  a  compass,  more  judicious  and  masterly 
statements  respecting  it.  Numerous  editions  of  this  noble  work 
dispersed  among  the  nations  of  Europe  soon  after  its  publica- 
tion, produced  a  very  powerful  effect  on  the  minds  of  their  peo- 
ple ;  nor  is  there  any  reason  to  doubt,  that,  it  exerted  an  influ- 
ence in  favor  of  both  civil  and  religious  liberty  which  was  at 
once  potent  and  permanent. 

"  The  Protestant  Reformation,  although  principally  concern- 
ed to  restore  true  Christianity,  and  rectify  the  many  abuses 
which  the  wicked  policy  of  Rome  had  introduced  inrto  religion, 
through  several  ages,  tended  also  to  promote  the  welfare  of  par- 
ticular kingdoms,  and  the  liberty  of  mankind,  by  settling  the 
authority  of  magistracy  on  just  foundations.  Among  other 
things  in  controversy  with  their  adversaries,  the  Reformers 
with  unanimity  declared  against  Papal  encroachments  on  civil 
power — the  confounding  of  jurisdictions — the  exemption  of  cer- 
tain classes  of  men  from  the  laws — the  subjection  of  subjects  to 
a  foreign  head,  claiming  power  to  tax  them,  or  to  absolve  them 
at  his  pleasure  from  th'  ir  allegiance.  They  also,  with  one  voice, 
declared  against  the  wild  and  enthusiastic  opinions  of  some  per- 
sons pretending  Reftrmation — the  levelling  schemes  of  the  Ana 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY,  53 

baptists — and  the  tumultuous  insurrections  of  the  German  pea- 
sants— which  were  also  invidiously  charged  by  their  adversaries 
upon  the  principles  and  cause  of  the  Reformers,  though  they 
could  derive  no  countenance  from  these  but  by  their  perversion 
and  abuse.  The  opposition,  also,  made  to  the  Protestants  in 
many  places,  by  the  civil  powers  under  which  they  lived,  af- 
forded tiiem  another  occasion  and  call  to  assert  and  manifest 
to  the  world  their  legal  and  peaceable  subordination,  in  all 
points  wherein  obedience  to  human  authority  and  laws  could 
warrantably  be  claimed.  They  accordingly  took  care,  in  as- 
serting and  exercising  their  natural  or  religious  rights,  and  in 
explaining  the  due  limits  of  authority  and  obedience,  to  avoid 
any  thing  that  might  look  like  a  refusal  to  give  due  allegiance 
even  to  the  rulers  who  were  inimical  to  their  religion,  or  as  if 
they  were  men  delighting  in  anarchy  and  Belialism.  Their  pub- 
lic apologies  and  confessions,  as  well  as  private  writings,  con- 
tained assertions  and  language  sufficiently  explicit  and  strong 
upon  these  points,  as  may  be  seen,  among  other  monuments, 
in  the  passages  relating  to  them  in  the  Augsburg,  the  Helve- 
tian, the  French  and  Scottish  Confessions.  Their  personal 
practice,  and  public  proceedings  accorded  with  their  profes- 
sions ;  unless  when  open  tyranny  compelled  them  to  use  the 
common  right  of  self-defence  and  resistance." 

The  Reformers  however,  were  not  men  of  accommodating 
spirits,  whom  royalty  could  seduce  by  its  smiles,  or  intimidate 
by  its  frowns.  They  were  strangers  to  that  false  politeness, 
which,  in  violation  of  conscience  and  of  truth,  can  profess  re- 
spect for  tyranny,  and  minister  flattering  compliments  to  profli- 
gate greatness.  But  that  they  either  entertained  or  countenanc- 
ed opinions  which  derogate,  in  the  remotest  degree,  from  the 
proper  rights  of  political  rulers,  is  a  most  iniquitous  accusation  ; 
and  poor  must  be  the  heart  of  that  man,  who  can  assign  to  his 
industry  the  odious  task  of  attempting  to  fix  so  manifest  a  calum- 
ny on  the  deliverers  of  Europe — men,  whose  memory  the 
friends   of  piety  and  freedom  will  ever  venerate,  and  whose 

5* 


M  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

names  they  will  never  cease  to  associate  with  all  that  is  previous 
and  dear  to  them  in  the  world. 

The  change  which,  under  the  influence  of  the  Reformation, 
was  effected  in  the  political  condition  of  Europe,  is  amply  de- 
tailed in  the  histories  of  the  period  in  which  it  took  place ;  al- 
though it  is  certainly  matter  of  regret,  that  the  writers  of  these 
works  have  not  given  sufficient  prominence  to  the  influence 
which  the  Reformation  had  in  producing  it.  The  revolution  of 
which  we  are  treating,  not  only  had  a  tendency  to  aflfect,  but  did  ac- 
tually aflfect,  the  political  governments  of  the  age,  and  did,in  many 
striking  instances,  accomplish  a  change,  the  benefits  resulting 
from  which  are  at  this  moment  enjoyed,  and  will  through  all  time 
continue  to  be  enjoyed,  not  by  Europe  only,  but  by  the  world- 

In  the  auspicious  influence  of  the  Reformation,  as  it  respects 
•  ivil  liberty,  no  country  has  more  largely  participated  than  our 
own.  Britain  has  been  eminently  the  scene  where  the  good 
done  to  mankind  by  that  revolution  has  been  displayed.  In 
her— while  from  some  of  the  continental  nations,  in  which  the 
light  of  truth  began  to  spread,  and  to  render  visible  the  thick- 
surrounding  darkness,  it  was  soon,  by  the  formidable  exertions 
of  its  enemies,  unhappily  excluded — ^in  her,  the  light,  which, 
after  ten  centuries  of  gloom,  burst  upon  mankind,  was  cherish- 
ed and  perpetuated,  and,  under  the  good  providence  of  Him 
whose  time  had  arrived  to  have  mercy  on  the  world,  was  made  to 
diflfuse  over  her  moral  scenery  a  charm,  which,  till  then,  she 
knew  not,  and  which,  since  that  time,  has  constituted  the  es- 
sence of  all  that  moral  loveliness  by  which  her  character  has 
been  adorned.  Look  to  Britain,  behold  in  her  one  splendid  ex- 
ample of  what  the  Reformation  has  done  for  liberty.  Liberty 
constitutes  the  foundation  of  all  her  greatness  ;  and  the  source 
of  her  liberty  was  the  Reformation. 

History,  it  is  true,  assures  us,  that,  at  a  period  long  anterior 
to  the  sixteenth  century,  the  constitution  of  England  had  worn 
m  aspect  which  was,  on  the  whole,  favorable  to  freedom.    But 

re  know  well,  that  the  mere  existence  of  good  laws  will  form 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  55 

a  very  slender  barrier  against  the  encroachments  of  tyrannical 
rulers,  if  they  are  not  shielded  from  perversion  by  the  opinion, 
openly  and  boldly  expressed,  of  an  intelligent  population.  Such 
a  safeguard  for  their  liberties  the  people  of  England  did  not 
possess.  The  fundamental  laws  of  the  kingdom,  favorable  as 
they  were  to  political  freedom,  had  been,  for  the  most  part,  ex- 
torted from  arbitrary  monarchs,  by  whom,  when  it  suited  them, 
they  were  disregarded ;  and  the  people,  debased  by  ignorance 
and  superstition,  and  held  in  bondage  by  a  hundred  petty  sove- 
reigns besides,  were  neither  in  a  condition,  nor  had  any  desire 
to  cause  them  to  be  respected.  Need  we  wonder  that,  in  such 
circumstances,  the  most  flagrant  violations  of  rights,  on  the 
one  hand — and  the  most  humiliating  acquiescences,  on  the 
other,  should  often  meet  the  eye  of  the  reader,  while  he  peru- 
ses, indignant,  these  portions  of  her  history  ? 

There  was  nothing  in  this  wretched  state  of  society  which 
could  warrant  the  anticipation  of  a  change  for  the  better ;  but 
every  thing,  as  we  have  already  shown,  to  induce  the  melan- 
choly expectation  of  its  longer  duration.  The  abolition  oX  the 
feudal  system  had,  indeed,  some  considerable  time  before  the 
Reformation,  rescued  the  people  from  baronial  slavery ;  but  it 
did  this  only  to  deliver  them  up  into  the  power  of  a  royal  des- 
pot. Henry  VIII.  was  a  more  absolute  monarch  than  any  other 
that  ever  filled  the  British  throne ;  and,  but  for  the  religious  re- 
volution of  the  sixteenth  century,  which  overthrew  the  power 
of  the  church,  and  inspired  the  public  mind  with  a  noble  feeling 
of  independence,  the  government  of  our  country,  no  longer 
checked  by  the  baronial  power,  and  supported  by  the  immense 
influence  of  the  church,  would  have  become,  and  would  at  this 
moment  have  been,  a  despotism.     11. 

With  the  commencement  of  the  Reformation  in  England  be- 
gan the  establishment  of  her  liberty.  By  the  overthrow  which 
Henry  gave  to  the  Roman  power  throughout  his  kingdom,  there 
was  inflicted,  on  the  despotism  which  he  and  his  predecessors 
had  been  attempting  to  rear,  a  wound  of  which  he  little  dream- 


of)  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

ed.  Thenceforth  the  genius  of  tyranny  found  England  to  be  an 
unkindly  soil ;  and  although,  for  many  years,  it  struggled  hard 
to  regain  its  lost  ascendency,  and  oftener  than  once  let  loose 
the  tempest  of  war  over  the  breadth  and  length  of  the  land, 
these  were  its  expiring  throbs,  resembling 

^  "  the  working  of  a  sea, 

Before  a  calm,  that  rocks  itself  to  rest."' 

The  motives  which  prompted  Henry  to  come  to  a  rupture 
with  the  court  of  Rome  are  too  well  known  to  leave  us  in  any 
doubt,  whether  or  not  he  designed  to  effect  a  favorable  change 
in  the  condition  of  his  people.     Titled  the  royal  polemic  had 
been  with  the  name  of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith,"  but  he  was 
ambitious  also  to  become   its    Lord.     He   wished   to   transfer 
the  ecclesiastical  supremacy  from  Rome  to  his  own  metropolis, 
and  to  concentrate,  in  his  own  person,  both  the  pontilical  au- 
thority and  the  imperial  power.  But  his  wish  was  vain.    When 
he  overthrew  in  his  kingdom  the  Papal  domination,  he  destroy- 
ed unwittingly  the  magic  spell  by  which,  for  many  ages,  the 
energies  of  his  people  had  been  bound.     A  channel  was  opened, 
by  means  of  that  destruction,  for  the  extensive  dissemination  of 
the  Reformed  doctrines.    These  were  accordingly  spread  far  and 
wide  throughout  the  land  ;  and  the  consequence  was,  the  ac- 
complishment of  a  revolution  in  the  sentiments  of  his  subjects, 
which  tlie  haughty  potentate  had  not  anticipated.  An  invincible 
hostility  to  the  Popish  superstition    and  a  deeply  rooted  abhor- 
rence of  arbitrary  power,  constituted  from  that  time  the  promi- 
nent features  in  the  popular  mind ;  nor,  much  as  these  features 
were  the  object  of  his  execration,  could  the  oppressor,  with  all 
his  furious  proscription  at  once  of  enemies  and  of  friends,  ac- 
complish their  extinction.     Eflorts  with  that  infamous  design  he 
and  his  successors  frequently  made  ;  but  they  were  made  in  vain, 
and  served  to  render  more  terrible  the  explosion  which  after- 
wards took  place,  and  which  deluged  England  with  native  blood. 
The  reign  of  Henry's  Protestant  daughter  Elizabeth  tended, 
ill  some  degree,  to  heal  the   wounds  of  her  bleeding  country, 


ON    CIVIL  LIBERTY.  57 

and  to  repair  the  disasters  which  it  had  sustained  under  her  in- 
famous predecessor  Mary.  The  tragic  scenes  which  the  history 
of  the  latter  princess  discloses  to  our  view,  it  is  painful  for  hu- 
manity to  contemplate  ;  nor  is  it  unlikely,  that,  but  for  the  short- 
ness of  their  duration,  they  would  have  succeeded  in  expelling 
from  the  land  of  their  fathers  the  most  valuable  of  its  inhabit- 
ants, and  bequeathing  to  the  wretched  remainder  that  inherit- 
ance of  slavery  from  which  they  were  seeking,  and  were  fondly 
hoping  to  escape.  Happily  for  England,  however,  the  sanguine 
anticipations  of  the  enemies,  and  the  gloomy  forebodings  of  the 
friends,  of  freedom  and  of  their  country,  were  disappointed  by 
the  opportune  death  of  the  cruel  queen,  and  the  arrival  of  her 
sister  at  the  sovereign  power.  She  banished,  by  public  enact- 
ment, from  her  dominions  the  system  that  had  too  long  degrad- 
ed them  ;  and,  if  she  did  not  alter  the  form  of  the  government, 
greatly  meliorated  its  spirit. 

During  the  period  in  which  the  last  four  princes  of  the  house 
of  Stuart  filled  the  throne  of  England,  royal  tyranny  met  with 
the  firmest  and  most  successful  resistance.  Long,  and  with  mar- 
vellous patience,  did  the  people  bear  the  encroachments  of  their 
oppressors,  and  fondly  did  they  hope  that  some  auspicious  re- 
volution would  take  place  in  their  measures  ; — but  their  hopes 
were  vain :  even  the  warning  voice  ef  sore  adversity  failed  to 
give  wisdom  to  their  rulers  ;  one  outrage  on  their  rights  after 
another  was  brought  to  their  endurance,  till,  roused  to  indigna- 
tion by  accumulated  wrongs,  they  expelled  the  last  James  from 
his  throne,  and  determined  that  thenceforth  it  should  never  be 
possessed  by  any  of  his  line.      12 

In  Scotland,  the  Reformation  was  the  dawn  of  genuine  liber- 
ty ;  and  in  her,  the  struggle  for  liberty,  to  which  the  Refor- 
mation gave  birth,  was  carried  on  with  ardor  and  perseverance. 
In  that  struggle,  the  civil  as  well  as  the  religious  rights  of  the 
Scottish  people  were  involved,  and  the  advocates  of  the  one 
were  found  in  the  resolute  asserters  of  the  other.     This  is  a 


.-,8  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

fact  of  peculiar  importance— worthy  of  general  regard— but  spe- 
cially worthy  of  the  consideration  of  those  men  who  assume 
to  themselves  the  name  of  Philanthropists,  whose  calculations, 
nevertheless,  and  whose  exertions,  all  are  confined  within  the 
range  of  worldly  concerns.  "  Ye  men  of  earthly  benevolence," 
we  would  say  to  such  persons,  "  who  love  to  do  good,  but  whose 
love  of  doing  good  knows  not  to  pass  beyond  the  interests  of 
time,  and  to  whom  it  is  so  congenial  to  turn  away  Avith  disdain 
from  any  project  that  would  propose  a  wider  excursion,  or  lay 
claim  to  a  loftier  importance — ponder  the  fact  to  which  we  have 
just  adverted,  that  the  civil  equally  with  the  religious  liberties  of 
our  land  were  struggled  for,  and  that  the  very  men  whom  the 
Reformation  had  roused  to  plead  boldly  for  the  one,  were  the 
men  who,  while  all  around  them  crouched  willingly  beneath 
the  yoke,  contended  stedfastly  and  successfully  for  the  other. 
Ponder  this  fact;  and,  accustomed  as  you  may  have  been  to  re- 
gard the  Reformation  as  merely  a  religious  revolution,  affect- 
ing only  those  interests  of  mankind,  whose  value — though  it 
reaches  forth  into  eternity — ye  have  not  learned  to  appreciate, 
henceforth  form  a  better  estimate  of  its  worth ;  exclude  it  not, 
as  heretofore  ye  may  have  done,  from  your  grateful  regard ;  nor 
ca^t  upon  those  who  strove,  and  sacrificed  their  lives,  for  its 
establishment,  the  cruelty  of  your  scorn  !"  The  Reformation, 
by  restoring  to  the  world  genuine  religion,  has  done  unspeak- 
able good  to  man,  viewed  as  an  immortal  being  ;  but  by  break- 
ing the  fetters  of  despotism  which  bound  him,  and  introducing 
him  to  light  and  liberty,  it  has  also  been  a  source  of  felicity  to 
man,  viewed  as  the  inhabitant  of  this  world  ; — and  thus,  al- 
though it  is  the  peculiar  glury  of  the  Reformation  to  have  at- 
tracted towards  it  the  esteem,  and  gratitude,  and  prayers  of  the 
pious,  it  has,  at  the  same  time,  in  the  mighty  sweep  of  its  ener- 
gy, proved  the  parent  of  benefits,  which  should  commend  it 
even  to  worldly  men,  and  should  secure  for  it  the  respect  and 
gratitude  of  those  whose  feelings  and  vieAvs  are  associated  only 
with  secular  concerns. 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  59 

The  chief  agent  in  Scotland's  Reformation  is  endeared  to  us 
as  the  restorer  of  our  spiritual  freedom;  but  he  is  also  emin- 
ently endeared  to  us  as  the  firm,  unbending  patriot,  to  whom, 
under  God,  we  are  mainly  indebted  for  our  political  liberty. 
Scotland,  at  the  momentous  crisis  when  he  appeared,  stood  ia 
need  of  some  dauntless  and  intrepid  spirit  to  sway  the  minds  of 
her  people — some  individual  of  sound  intelligence  and  genuine 
patriotism,  who  would  at  once  proclaim  the  dangers  of  anarchy, 
and  rear  a  determined  front  against  oppression  in  its  every  form ; 
— she  needed,  in  short,  some  bold  asserter  of  her  long  lost 
rights,  in  whom  the  spirit  of  Wallace  might  revisit  the  land 
that  he  delivered,  and  to  frown,  indgnant,  on  those  who  dared 
to  pollute  the  scene  of  his  deathless  triumphs.  Such  a  charac- 
ter she  found  in  the  person  of  her  Reformer ,  and,  great  as^w^ere 
the  exploits  of  her  celebrated  warrior,  triumphs  of  a  higher 
order  were  achieved,  and  benefits  of  a  more  dignified  character 
conferred  on  his  countrymen,  and  the  applauses  of  remotest 
ages  still  more  justly  merited,  by  her  Reformer — by  that  man 
who,  under  God,  was  the  instrument  at  once  of  redeeming  from 
degradation  the  pohtical  liberties  of  his  native  land,  and  of  lift- 
ing up  the  minds  of  her  people  to  the  love  and  the  pursuit  oi 
a  freedom — 

"unsung 

By  poets,  and  by  senators  unpraised, 
Which  monarchs  cannot  grant,  nor  all  the  powers 
Of  earth  and  hell  confederate,  take  away : 
A  hberty,  which  persecution,  fraud, 
Oppression,  prisons,  have  no  power  to  bind, — 
A  liberty  of  heart  derived  from  heaven, 
Which  whoso  tastes  can  be  enslaved  no  more." 

"  We  have  read  in  our  youth — exclaimed  an  eloquent  preacher, 
while  the  name  to  which  we  are  alluding  was  yet  unmonument- 
ed— of  patriot  men,  the  avenger's  of  a  country's  wrongs  ;  and, 


GO       EFFECTS  OF  THE  RBFORMATION. 

after  witnessing,  in  severe  experience,  the  meanness  and  the  sel- 
fishness of  mankind,  we  turn  again  to  the  page  of  history  with 
eacrerness,  increased  a  thousand  fold  ;  and  we  trace  with  a  thril- 
ling emotion  the  sacred  steps  of  Leonidas,  of  Wallace,  or  of  the 
archer  Tell ;  and  a  nation's  gratitude  bids  the  monument  arise 
to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  their  deeds — of  fetters  broken,  and 
for  ever  cast  away — of  tyranny  overthrown — of  justice  recalled 
from  the  heavens,  and  fixing  her  abode  once  more  upon  the 
earth.  And  shall  no  eye  turn  with  eagerness  to  the  page  which 
tells  of  the  mind  emancipated  ?  Shall  no  heart  throb  with  emo- 
tion, shall  no  breath  breathe  irregular,  as  we  read  of  those  who 
burst  the  bands  of  spiritual  slavery,  who  restored  reason  to  its 
freedom,  and  taught  the  man,  intellectual  and  at  large,  judging 
for  himself,  and  aware  of  his  responsibility,  to  claim  the  place 
which  belongs  to  him  among  the  works  of  his  Creator  ?  I  would 
bind  the  laurel  on  the  patriot's  brow :  I  would  join  with  you, 
in  adding  a  stone  to  the  heap  which  covers  his  remains  ;  but, 
while  the  name  of  Wallace  is  to  be  preserved  by  an  additional 
security,  foul  scorn  do  I  hold  it,  to  be  under  the  necessity  of  re- 
minding you,  that  no  column  has  been  raised  to  the  memory  of 
Knox,  and  that  no  public  edifice,  throughout  the  land  which  he 
delivered,  has  been  inscribed  with  his  name." 

After  all  that  has  been  said,  however,  respecting  our  Scottish 
Reformer,  and  the  stigma  which  his  unrequitted  exertions  have 
cast  upon  many  generations  of  his  countrymen,  the  name  of 
Knox,  found  its  best  memorial  in  the  esteem  and  the  veneration 
of  those  by  whom  the  blessings  he  conferred  on  his  native  land 
have  been  valued  and  improved.  What  though  no  "  wreath  of 
gratitude"  had  ever  been  hung  upon  his  tomb  ?  What  though 
•*  no  pilgrim  fraught  with  pious  lore"  had  ever  visited  the 
scene  of  his  labors  ?  What  though  his  deeds  had  never  been  re- 
corded on  the  marbelled  pillar,  or  his  ashes  gathered  into  "  tlie 
storied  urn?"  His  name,  bright  with  venerable  associations, 
and  identified  with  his  country's  purest  glories,  would  never 
have  been  forgotten : — in  the  grateful  and  venerating  hearts  of 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  61 

the  patriotic  and  the  pious  among  his  countrymen,  his  services 
would  have  found  their  best  requital,  and  his  virtues  their  no 
blest  shrine.  "  This  is  the  reward  of  the  patriot  and  the  saint 
The  monuments  of  fame,  like  the  beings  whose  names  they  per 
petuate,  will  soon  pass  away,  and  the  lonely  heap  of  their  ru 
ins,  in  some  future  age,  may  awaken  the  regret  of  the  pensive 
traveller,  as  he  silently  acknowledges  the  might  of  time,  in 
mouldering  the  glories  of  the  past,  and  darkening  with  the 
clouds  of  forgetfulness  the  records  of  perishing  greatness.  But 
those  impressions  of  awe  and  love  which  are  made  on  the  heart 
by  the  virtues  of  great  and  noble  minds,  are  more  enduring — they 
nev«r  perish  ;  and,  in  the  decay  and  wreck  of  all  human  empire, 
will  shed  a  beauteous  splendor  on  the  spirits  of  the  just,  and 
soothe  and  delight  them  through  the  silent  lapse  of  innumerable 
years."  It  will  be  thus  with  the  patriot  and  saint  of  whom  we 
are  speaking.  The  men  of  true  patriotism  in  this  land  will  ever 
venerate  his  name,  and  will  trace  their  national  privileges,  and 
their  national  renown,  to  the  great  revolution  which  his  life  was 
spent  in  seeking  to  establish,  nor  ever,  in  Scottish  history, 
will  the  period  arrive,  when  the  parent  shall  cease  to  tell  his 
children,  or  the  children  cease,  with  their  infant  tongues,  to  lisp 
out  the  name  of  Knox  ;  and  thus  will  there  be  found,  in  the 
grateful  remembrance  of  posterity,  the  noblest  monument,  the 
most  imperishable  memorial,  of  him  who  brought  us  out  of 
barbarism,  and  made  us  free. 

But  it  is  not  only  in  the  history  of  the  illustrious  individual  of 
whom  we  have  just  spoken,  of  Knox,  that  it  is  eminently  true, 
while  religion  was  the  primary  object  of  his  benevolent  and 
persevering  exertions,  the  secular  welfare  of  his  country  was 
an  object  which,  in  connection  with  the  other,  he  zealously  and 
stedfastly  pursued.  But  this  also  is  true  of  those  men  who  were 
the  coadjutors  of  Knox  in  his  momentous  labors  and  it  is  espe- 
cially true  of  the  actors  in  those  struggles,  which,  down  to  the 
time  of  the  Revolution  in  1688,  were  carried  on  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  Scottish  Reformation.  These  are  they,'  who,  from 
the  solemn  and  important  deeds  into  which  they  entered  on  be- 

6 


62  EFFECT    OF    THE  REFORMATION 

half  of  their  country,  were  named  Covenanters,  and  who,  in  the 
style  of  modern  ridicule,   have   been  contemptuously   termed 
'♦  the  brethren  of  the  Covenant."     Their  projects  and  their  do- 
ino-s  bear  at  once  on  the  political  and  on  the  spiritual  felicity  of 
their  land ;  and  what  they  said,   and  did,  and  endured,  for  the 
advancement  of  her  noblest  interests,  merits  to  be  had  in  grate- 
ful remembrance  to  the  latest  age.     "  In  the  midst  of  the  fiery 
furnace  of  persecution,  they  appeared  assuming  the  high  charac- 
ter of  witnesses  for  God,  and  maintaining  it  in  the  face  of  dan- 
ger and  death.     Though  few  in  number,  like  the  gleanings  of 
o-rapes  after  the  vintage,  and  a  few  berries  on  the  top  of  the  out- 
ermost bough,  they  lifted  up  the  fallen  standard  of  religious  li- 
berty, and  generously  devoted  themselves.     Against  the  revolt 
and  outbreakings  of  this  generation,  we  are  called  to  stand  ii 
the  gap,  and  leave  our  bodies  there,  that  the  generation  to  come 
who  shall  hear  that  the  spouse  of  Christ  once  dwelt  in  Scotland 
with  all  her  beautiful  ornaments,  may,  at  least,  behold  her  me 
morial  in  the  torn  veil,  and  trace  her  footsteps  in  the   land  by 
a  track  of  blood.     They   would  swear  no  oaths,  subscribe  no 
bonds,  take  no  test,  nor  yield  to  any  imposition  on  conscience. 
They  would  not  pray  for  the  king,  because  that  might  be  con- 
strued as  owning  a  title  which,  in  their  judgment,  he  had  for- 
feited ,  and  they  resolved  whatever  it  might  cost,  to  be  ingenu- 
ous and  open,  decisive  and  unembarrassed,  both  in  word  and  in 
deed.     They  testified  against  all  the  arbitrary,  persecuting  a^ts 
of  Charles,  and  published  acts  of  their  own,  disowning  the  King, 
excluding  the  Duke  of  York,   and  declaring  war  in  defence  of 
their  religion  and  of  their  lives.     The  avowal  of  disaffection 
was  the  signal  of  death,  and,  by  means  of  mercenary  spies  and 
traitors,  many  of  them  were  seized  and  executed.     They  de- 
nounced vengeance  on  the  spies,  admonishing  both  the  bloody 
Doegs  and  flattering  Ziphites  to  remember,  "  All  that  is  in  peril 
is  not  lost,  and  all  that  is  delayed  is  not  forgiven."     The  coward 
race  were  appalled  by  a  threatening  that  came  from  men  without 
falsehood  and  without  fear.     Their  bold  example  attracted  con- 
genial spirits,  and,  like  the  Israelites  in  Egypt,  the  more  they 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  63 

were  afflicted,  the  more  they  grew.  They  formed  into  societies, 
and  settled  the  ground  and  nature  of  their  testimony.  A  love  of 
liberty  they  considered  as  the  national  character,  which  it  was 
their  duty  to  maintain  and  transmit.  A  defensive  war  against 
tyranny  they  justified  by  the  laws  of  nature,  and  by  the  precepts 
and  doctrines  of  the  Bible.  It  is  God's  command  to  his  people, 
"  Deliver  thyself,  O  Zion,  that  dwellest  with  the  daughters  of 
Babylon."  "  If  thou  forbear  to  deliver  them  that  are  drawn 
unto  death,  and  them  that  are  ready  to  be  slain  ;  if  thou  sayest. 
Behold,  we  know  it  not,  shall  not  He  that  pondereth  the  heart 
consider  it  ?"  Our  brethren  are  drawn  unto  death,  and  we  are 
ready  to  be  slain  ;  in  such  circumstances,  to  forbear  is  to  partake 
of  the  sin  of  murderers.  Sympathy  and  self-defence  are  the 
armor  of  God,  a  shield  and  buckler  which  must  not  be  vilely 
thrown  away.  The  powers  that  be  are  of  God,  but  he  ordains 
them  to  be  ministers  to  men  for  good.  They  rejected  James  at 
his  accession  to  the  crown,  because  he  had  not  taken  the  coro- 
nation vow,  and  was  in  no  condition  to  fulfil  it.  They  disdain- 
ed his  toleration,  and  would  not  accept  as  a  favor  what  belonged 
to  them  as  a  right,  nor  acknowledge  a  power  to  give,  which 
implied  a  power  to  take  away.  Spurning  his  restriction  of  wor- 
ship to  houses,  they  vindicated  their  liberty  in  the  fields,  preach- 
ing in  mountains  and  in  the  wilderness,  as  Christ  and  his  fore- 
runner preached.  To  those  who  objected  that  their  testimony 
was  unexampled,  they  answered,  the  tyranny  of  the  times  is 
also  without  example  :  former  examples  arose  from  the  state  of 
things  which  produced  them;  the  present  singular  state  of  things 
demands  a  new  example  to  after  ages.  Tyrants  formerly  used 
force,  but  ihey  now  demand  an  explicit  owning  of  arbitrary 
power ; — the  limitation  of  kingly  power  is  a  question  which 
they  compel  us  to  decide ,  and  our  example  may  instruct  and 
animate  posterity.  Their  standard  on  the  mountains  of  Scotland 
indicated  to  the  vigilant  eye  of  William,  that  the  nation  was 
ripening  for  a  change.  They  expressed  what  others  thought, 
uttering  the  indignation  and  the  groans  of  a  spirited  and  oppres- 
sed people.     They  investigated  and  taught  under  the  guidance 


&I  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

of  feeling,  the  reciprocal  obligations  of  kings  and  subjects,  the 
duty  of  self-defence  and  of  resisting  tyrants,  the  generous  prin- 
ciple of  assisting  the  oppressed,  or,  in  their  language,  helping 
the  Lord  against  the  mighty.  These  subjects,  which  have  since 
been  investigated  by  philosophers  in  the  closet,  and  adorned 
with  eloquence  in  the  senate,  were  then  illustrated  by  men  ol 
feeling  in  the  field.  While  Russel  and  Sidney,  and  other  en- 
lightened patriots  in  England,  were  plotting  against  Charles, 
-from  a  conviction  that  his  right  was  forfeited,  the  Cameronians 
in  Scotland,  under  the  same  conviction,  had  the  courage  to  de- 
clare war  against  him.  Both  the  plotters  and  the  warriors  fell : 
but  their  blood  watered  the  plant  of  renown,  and  succeeding 
ages  have  eaten  the  pleasant  fruit." 

Such  is  the  record  of  the  character  and  doings  of  the  Coven- 
anters ;  and  we  appeal  to  every  heart  that  is  not  utterly  estrang- 
ed from  proper  feeling,  whether  they  are  not  emiji»iitly  entitled 
lo  our  gratitude  and  esteem  ?  Religious  Reformers  they  un- 
doubtedly were;  but  they  were  at  the  same  time  the  friends  and 
the  advocates  of  civil  liberty.  They  sought  to  break  and  to 
cast  away  from  their  country,  for  ever,  the  fetters  of  spiritual 
thraldom,  with  which  her  enemies  strove  to  bind  her ;  but  they 
likewise  sought  her  deliverance  from  political  oppression.  In- 
deed, although  it  had  been  the  case  that  their  efforts  were  solely 
directed  to  the  vindication  of  their  own  religious  principles,  they 
would  have  really  been,  and  would  have  merited  to  be  esteemed, 
the  advocates  of  their  country's  civil  rights.  For  the  ecclesias- 
tical systems,  against  which  their  opposition  was  directed,  were 
unifor.'rJy  combined,  in  the  land,  with  arbitrary  power  ;  and 
therefore,  in  opposing  and  lifting  up  their  testimony  against 
them,  they  appeared,  not  merely  in  support  of  certain  princi- 
ples of  religious  belief,  and  in  adherence  to  a  peculiar  system 
of  ecclesiastical  polity,  but  on  behalf  of  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  tlieir  whole  nation,  in  opposition  to  the  tyrannical  encroach- 
ments of  arbitrary  power. 

But  they  also  stood  forth  directly,  and  avowedly  on  behalf  of 
the  civil  liberties  of  their  native  land :  in  fact,   they  were  the 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY,  65 

only  persons  of  their  times  who  made  a  firm  and  consistent 
appearance  in  their  defence.  The  Covenants,  from  which  they 
derived  their  name,  and  against  which,  in  succeeding  ages,  so 
much  ignorant  abuse  has  been  poured  forth,  were  deeds  in 
which  they  bound  themselves  to  defend  and  promote  the  civil 
liberties  of  their  kingdom,  as  well  as  the  purity  of  its  religious 
professions.  The  writings  which  they  published,  the  learning  and 
profound  judgment  they  displayed,  were  noble,  and  very  influ- 
ential testimonies  for  the  genuine  principles  of  political  freedom. 
And,  as  the  preceding  extract  has  made  manifest,  their  whole 
conduct,  from  the  time  when  they  stood  forth  in  a  public  charac- 
ter, down  to  the  revolution  in  1688,  was  a  continued  struggle 
for  the  best  privileges  of  their  earthly  kingdom,  as  well  as  for 
the  nobler  immunities  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Patriots, 
therefore,  the  Scottish  Covenanters  surely  were,  in  the  best  and 
highest  sense  of  the  term,  for  religion,  liberty,  conscience,  and 
the  public  good — all  that  is  precious  to  man  as  a  rational  and 
immortal  being,  entered  into  the  matter  of  their  contendings. 
Their  love  of  country  was  of  the  sublimest  cast.  The  spots  on 
which  they  contended,  and  on  which  many  of  them  fell,  were 
scenes  of  purer  and  more  substantial  glory  than  that  which  was 
gained  of  old  on  the  plains  of  Marathon,  or  at  the  straits  of 
Thermopyle.  The  historian  of  our  land,  when  he  tells  us  of  the 
heroism  with  which  these  patriot  men,  in  the  times  "  when  mo- 
narchs  owned  no  sceptre  but  the  sword,"  "  foiled  a  tyrant's  and 
a  bigot's  bloody  rage,"  and  of  the  firm  perseverance  with  which, 
in  spite  of  all  that  was  around  them  calculated  to  break  their 
resolution,  they  clung  to  the  cause  in  which  they  had  embarked, 
displaying  on  their  native  mountains  the  banner  of  freedom, 
and  standing  out  to  the  view  of  mankind  in  the  high  character 
of  advocates  at  once  for  the  prerogatives  of  their  God,  and  for 
the  liberties  of  their  country — is  pointing  our  attention  to  trans- 
actions of  loftier  character,  and  of  far  deeper  interest :  nor  do 
we  hesitate  to  declare,  that,  we  shonld  blush  to  claim  kindred 
with  the  man  who  could  survey  the  portion  of  our  country's 
history  in  which  these  transactions  are  recorded,  without  feel- 
er 


G6  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

ing  both  gratitude  and  admiration.  "The  cool-blooded  infidel" 
casts  a  look  of  ineffable  disdain  on  the  cause  and  the  doings  of 
the  Covenanters,  because  he  regards  them  as  merely  the  paltry 
conflictings  of  some  insignificant  religious  sects.  The  servile 
advocate  of  arbitrary  power  turns  away  from  them  with  dis- 
gust, because  he  is  jealous  of  every  thing  that  has  the  air  of  a 
struggle  for  freedom.  The  bigoted  adherent  of  Popery  dislikes 
them,  because  the  Covenanters  thought  not  altogether  as  he 
thinks,  but  made  their  appeal  from  the  dogmas  of  erring  man, 
to  the  unerring  oracles  of  the  living  God.  While,  last  of  all, 
and,  unhappily,  in  the  most  numerous  class  of  all,  the  worldly 
man,  immersed  in  secularity,  and  alive  only  to  the  things  of 
this  present  world,  deems  the  Covenanters'  contest  beneath  his 
regard,  because  it  was  connected  with  religion.  There  were 
religious  matters  involved  in  that  contest,  and  it  is  this  circum- 
stance, we  conceive,  which  constitutes  its  highest  glory ; — ne- 
vertheless, it  is  this  very  circumstance  which,  in  the  view  of 
worldly  men,  deprives  it  of  all  its  interest,  and  entitles  it  to  be 
set  down  as  the  mere  ebullition  of  fanaticism !  Alas,  for  such 
men  !  Their  mode  of  thinking  and  of  judging  affords  a  melan- 
choly display  of  the  hostility  which  exists  in  the  corrupted 
human  heart  against  God,  and  against  the  things  of  God !  So 
long  as  the  benevolent  exertions  of  the  friends  of  their  race  re- 
main unconnected  with  spiritual  and  religious  concerns,  so 
long  as  they  maintain  a  character  purely  secular,  they  will 
receive  the  tribute  of  high  approbation ; — but  let  this  boundary 
be  once  touched — let  benevolence  extend  the  sphere  of  its  ex- 
ertion beyond  its  precincts  of  secularity,  and,  although  it  be- 
comes thereby  just  the  more  worthy  of  esteem  and  of  applause, 
it  has  entered  a  scene  whither  the  world  will  not  follow  it,  and 
in  which  contempt  and  scorn  will  be  its  sure  reward. 

"  Patriots  have  toiled,  and,  in  their  country's  cause, 
Bled  nobly,  and  their  deeds,  as  they  deserve, 

Receive  proud  recompense 

But  fairer  wreaths  are  due,  though  never  paid, 


ON   CIVIL  LIBERTY.  67 

To  those  who,  posted  at  the  shrine  of  Truth, 

^  Have  fallen  in  her  defence 

with  their  names 

No  bard  embalms  and  sanctifies  his  song ; 
And  history,  so  warm  on  meaner  themes, 
Is  cold  on  this." 

The  patriot  is  an  honorable  character,  but  he  who  is  both  a 
patriot  and  a  martyr  is  much  more  honorable.  Such  were  the 
Scottish  Covenanters.  If  ever  there  were  interests  worth  con- 
tending for,  they  are  those  for  which  they  struggled.  If  ever 
there  was  a  contest  that  bore  a  character  of  genuine  magnifi- 
cence, it  is  the  contest  in  which  they  were  engaged.  If  ever 
there  were  men  who  merited  the  esteem  and  the  applause  of 
succeeding  generations,  they  are  the  men  of  whose  doings  we 
have  been  discoursing.  For  all  that  is  estimable  in  our  politi- 
cal and  moral  condition,  we  are  indebted  to  them.  They  com- 
pleted the  deliverance  which  Knox  and  his  coadjutoi*s  had  com- 
menced. They  concluded  the  destruction,  throughout  this 
realm,  of  ecclesiastical  domination  and  arbitrary  political  power. 
These  are  the  Scottish  Covenanters !  Long  time  has  passed 
since  they  were  numbered  among  Scotland's  living  men ;  and 
the  tempests  of  many  a  winter  have  swept  over  the  places 
where  their  ashes  repose ;  but  they  are  not,  they  cannot  be  for- 
gotten. The  record  of  their  lives  may  perish,  and  the  rude  let- 
tered tablet  that  marks  the  hallowed  spot  of  their  glorious  slum- 
ber may  moulder  to  dust ;  but  their  fame  is  deathless  in  the 
heart  of  every  lover  of  Scotland's  liberty  and  Scotland's  Refor- 
rmation.  Their  worth  has  a  monument  more  imperishable  thau 
marble  or  brass— a  monument  which  will  survive  the  trophies  of 
conquerors  and  kings,  and  which  the  lapse  of  time  will  never  be 
able  to  destroy. 

It  was  at  the  memorable  Revolution  in  1688,  that  the  determi- 
nation to  be  free,  with  which  the  Reformation  had  inspired  the 
minds  of  the  British  people,  achieved  its  object.  The  arduous 
but  glorious  struggle  which,  for  more  than  a  century,  had  been 


08       EFFECTS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

perseveringly  maintained  against  arbitrary  power,  was  then 
brought  to  an  auspicious  termination.  The  storms  by  which 
the  land  had  been  assailed,  were  hushed  to  repose,  and  the 
firmness  of  our  forefathers  was  crowned  with  success.  Then, 
the  tree  of  British  liberty,  planted  in  a  former  age,  and  watered 
with  the  biood  of  patriots  and  martyrs,  attained  its  majestic 
growth,  and  succeeding  generations  have  prospered  beneath  its 
shade,  and  abundantly  partaken  of  its  pleasant  fruit. 

Had  the  Reformation  accomplished  no  other  achievement  on 
behalf  of  the  liberties  of  mankind — had  it  effected  nothing  more 
than  the  emancipation  of  one  country  from  darkness  and  despo- 
tism, its  memory  would  have  been  blessed.  To  have  reared, 
in  the  midst  of  the  ocean,  an  asylum  for  freedom,  whence,  in 
process  of  time,  as  from  a  centre,  its  genial  emanations  might 
have  gone  forth,  and,  penetrating  the  surrounding  gloom,  shed 
blessings  over  the  still  degraded  portions  of  the  earth,  would 
have  been  to  do  much  for  the  happiness  of  our  race.  But  it  did 
more  :  The  sphere  of  its  early  influence  was  much  more  exten- 
sive. We  can  point  to  other  nations  in  which  its  introduction 
proved  the  dawn  of  freedom ;  and  although  it  is  true,  that,  in 
some  instances,  the  political  importance  which  these  nations 
acquired,  has  been  swept  away  by  the  impetuous  tide  of  events, 
which,  during  recent  years,  has  poured  itself  over  Europe,  it  is 
at  the  same  time  true,  that  there  remains  in  the  character  of 
their  people,  an  intelligence,  a  love  of  enterprise  and  of  indus- 
try, with  a  variety  of  similar  features,  the  offspring  of  the  Re- 
formation, which  confer  on  them  a  decided  and  acknowledged 
superiority  over  the  population  of  those  states  in  which  the  an- 
cient system  retains  its  power. 

In  glancing  rapidly  at  the  history  of  some  of  these  nations, 
we  may  advert  to  the  States  of  Holland.  But  for  the  spirit  of 
resistance  to  arbitrary  power  elicited  by  the  Reformation,  these 
provinces  which,  with  all  their  insignificance,  acted,  for  a  con- 
siderable time,  such  an  important  part  among  the  kingdoms  of 
Europe,  would  most  probably  have  remained  under  the  yoke  of 
their  Spanish  oppressors.     With  them,  as  was  the  case  with 


ON  CIViOLXIBERTY.  60 

England,  the  vindication  of  tJieir  religious  rights  proved  the 
means  of  regaining  their  political  freedom.  Soon  after  its  com- 
mencement in  Germany,  the  Reformation  had  made  rapid  pro- 
gress in  these  states,  when  Philip,  the  monarch  who,  at  that 
time,  swayed  the  sceptre  over  the  Spanish  branch  of  the  empire, 
became  alarmed,  and  determined  to  use  vigorous  efforts  for  its 
extinction.  Proscriptions  and  persecutions  of  its  friends  en- 
sued ;  and.  the  more  certainly  to  crown  his  unholy  enterprize 
with  success,  he  erected,  among  the  Belgians,  the  tribunal  of  the 
Inquisition.  But  his  efforts  were  vain.  Tyrants  and  persecu- 
tors !  learn  wisdom  from  the  striking  lesson.  Means  like  those 
to  which  we  have  adverted,  may  repress,  for  a  time,  the  rising 
spirit  of  a  people,  but  cannot  crush  it ;  and  the  violence  with 
which  it  will,  at  length,  burst  forth,  will  be  awful  in  proportion 
to  the  degree  of  repression  which  it  has  experienced.  The 
Belgian  Revolution  is  one  of  the  multitude  of  instances  in 
which  the  truth  of  this  remark  has  been  demonstrated.  The 
barrier  which  Philip  was  attempting  to  rear  in  his  dominions 
against  the  progress  of  mind,  proved  utterly  ineffectual.  His 
system  of  increased  oppression,  instead  of  rendering  the  Hol- 
landers submissive  to  hi<^  measures,  imparted  tenfold  energy  to 
their  resistance.  With  one  heart  and  one  mind,  they  rose 
against  the  ravishers  of  their  freedom;  and,  animated  by  the 
consideration  of  the  immense  value  of  the  prize  for  which  they 
were  contending,  determined  to  emancipate  themselves,  or  pe* 
rish  with  the  rights  for  which  they  fought.  Here  we  would  say 
again  to  the  enemies  of  the  Reformation,  here  is  a  scene  result- 
ing from  that  very  revolution  to  which  you  ascribe  such  a  blast- 
ing  influence  on  the  affairs  of  Europe,  which  is  one  of  the  no- 
blest that  the  sun  can  look  upon, — a  brave  but  oppressed  people 
awakening  from  the  base  slumber  of  mafiy  generations,  and 
standing  forth  in  the  attitude  of  bold  contention  for  their  long 
insulted  and  dishonored  rights.  Who  feels  not  that  this  is  a 
hallowed  scene  ?  Who  venerates  not  the  combatants  ?  What 
mind  follows  not  with  lively  interest  the  progress  of  their  glo* 
rious  enterprise  ?  Arduous  and  long  was  the  contest  that  ensu- 


TO  EFFECT  OF  THE  BEFORMATION 

cd,  ere  the  struggle  was  successful.     But  it  could  not  be  unsuc 
cessful.     What  achievement  is  there  which  a  people,   "n  th-    cir- 
cumstances, and  with  the  feelings  of  the  brave  Belgians,  could 
fail  to  accomplish  ? 

The  storm  of  popular  indignation  burst  furio\isly  over  the 
system  by  which  the  Hollandars  had  been  oppressed;  and, 
along  with  their  oppressors,  swept  it  from  their  soil.  Thus  did 
the  Reformation  call  into  vigorous  activity  the  long  slumbering 
energies  of  this  people ;  stimulate  them  to  attempt  the  recovery 
of  their  lost  freedom ;  infuse  into  their  minds  that  firm  patriot- 
ism,  and  that  lofty  spirit  of  independence,  for  which  they  were 
iifterwards  illustrious ;  and,  in  short,  lay  the  foundation  of  all 
that  grandeur,  and  power,  and  prosperity,  which,  in  the  lapse 
of  years,  came  to  be  possessed  by  their  diminutive  state  ? 

In  the  history  of  Sweden,  will  we  find  another  testimony  to 
the  truth  of  the  affirmation  which  we  have  made, — that  the  Re- 
formation proved  the  dawn  of  liberty  to  the  nations  of  Europe. 
The  introduction  of  the  Reformation  into  that  country  brought 
along  with  it  the  recovery  of  her  independence,  and  the  rejec- 
tion of  the  Danish  yoke.  Under  the  virtuous  government  of 
Gustavus  Vasa,  than  whom  never  was  patriot  more  worthily 
esteemed  the  saviour  of  his  country^  the  great  and  dangerous 
power  of  the  clergy  was  suppresed ;  their  overgrown  revenues 
were  applied  to  the  purposes  of  government ;  a  regular  monar- 
chy was  estabhshed ;  and  such  internal  vigor  was  given  to  the 
administration  of  affairs,  that,  rising  above  her  natural  weak- 
ness, Sweden  became  the  first  kingdom  in  the  north.  So  high- 
ly indeed  was  she  elevated  by  the  abilities  of  her  Protestant 
princes,  and  the  other  advantages  which  she  had  derived  from 
the  Reformation,  that  she  became  the  protectress  at  onee  of 
Protestantism,  and  of  the  liberties  of  Germany.  The  commence- 
ment of  the  century  posterior  to  the  Reformation,  beheld  her 
enterprizing  monarch  at  the  head  of  that  powerful  confederacy 
which  was  formed  among  the  German  princes  against  the  bigo- 
try and  boundless  ambition  of  the  House  of  Austria.  The 
splendid  successes  which  they  obtained  against  that  power  are 
recorded  in  the  pages  of  the  historian:  nor  is  it  improbable 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  7J 

that,  if  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  survived  a  few  years  longer,  the 
oreatncss  of  Austria  would  have  been  annihilated.  The  Refor- 
mation  conferred  on  that  kingdom  liberty  and  greatness.  Nor 
is  it  an  objection  against  the  argument  which  we  are  maintain- 
ing to  say,  that  all  this  liberty  and  all  this  greatness  were  soon 
extinguished.  The  benefits  of  the  Reformation  were  not  pro- 
perly improved:  and,  if  the  rulers  of  Sweden,  or  of  any  other 
nation,  pursued  measures  which  were  calculated  to  dissipate 
these  benefits,  and  to  prevent  them  from  shedding  their  kindly 
influence  over  the  whole  population  of  their  land,  they  alone  cer- 
tainly were  to  blame ;  and  to  them  must  be  attributed  that  retro- 
gradation  which  their  several  countries  made  in  the  path  of  im- 
provement. "A  queen  weak,  and  fond  of  gallantry;  a  king 
despotic,  and  a  conqueror,  dissipated  the  advantages  procured 
to  Sweden  by  the  Reformation.  Had  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and 
Oxenstiern,  obtained  always  successors  worthy  of  them,  the 
Czars  would  n  )t  probably  have  built  their  imperial  city  on  the 
Neva;  they  would  not  have  reached  the  shores  of  the  Baltic ; 
and  the  face  of  the  north,  and  consequently  that  of  Europe, 
would  have  been  diflierent  from  what  it  is.  But  Sweden  shone 
only  for  an  instant ;  and,  like  those  sudden  meteors  which  shoot 
a  momentary  light  through  the  long  darkness  of  the  night,  it 
quickly  disappeared  from  the  political  horizon  "     13. 

A  similar  decline  did  Protestant  Denmark  experience:  but  nei- 
ther with  this  has  the  Reformation  any  concern.  Sufficient  for 
it  is  the  praise  of  having  poured  on  the  world  the  light  of  free- 
dom, and  of  having  opened  up  the  true  path  to  national  dignity 
and  grandeur  ;  and  if  these  bril|iant  prospects  have  been,  in  any 
case,  shrouded,  such  a  disastej"  is  to  be  traced  to  some  other 
cause  than  the   Reformation.   I 

If  we  turn  our  eyes  to  Girmany,  we  find  its  Protestant 
states  indebted  to  the  Reforniation  for  their  deliverance  from 
the  Austrian  yoke.  It  was  that  auspicious  Revolution  which 
introduced  among  the  inhabitants  of  those  states  a  firmness  of 
opposition  to  the  foe  of  their  jbommon  religion,  and  established 
among  them  a  bond  of  harmoMous  union  that  consolidated  their 


72  KtTECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

energies  and  fnabled  them  to  secure  their  liberty,  and  the  pro- 
fession of  the  Reformed  faith  over  half  the  empire.     14. 

The  Cantons  of  Switzerland  had  recovered  their  political  li- 
berty before  the  Reformation.  This  circmnstance,  to  those  who 
do  not  sufficiently  estimate  the  peculiar  situation  of  that  coun- 
try, may  seem  to  invalidate  the  remarks  which  we  have  made 
respecting  the  hostility  of  the  Papal  system  to  civil  liberty. 
"  This  people,"  it  may  be  said,  "  achieved  the  rescue  of  their 
independence,  and  maintained  it  with  the  most  heroic  courage; 
while,  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  ye^rs  thereafter,  they  remained 
subject  to  the  authority  of  Rome^"  But  in  all  this,  if  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case  be  rightly  considered,  there  is  nothing 
inconsistent  with  what  we  havej  been  asserting.  At  the  time 
when  the  Swiss  Cantons  threw  olF  the  Austrian  yoke,  tlie  poli- 
tical servitude  under  which  they  were  groaning  had  become  in- 
tolerable— it  had  reached  that  point  beyond  which  human  en- 
durance will  not  extend.  At  the|  same  time,  the  domination  of 
the  Roman  Pontiffs  had  assufned  among  them  an  aspect 
of  greater  mildness  than  had  characterized  it  in  any  other 
part  of  Europe.  To  the  extraordinary  stretches  of  usurped 
power,  which,  in  other  lands,  were  felt  so  keenly,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Switzerland  were  almost  entire  strangers.  For  this 
exemption  from  the  common  miseries  of  the  Christian  world, 
they  were  perhaps  principally  indebted  to  the  mountainous 
nature  of  their  country,  their  consequent  poverty,  and  the  cha- 
racter of  insignificance  thus  ijnposed  upon  them.  But  to  what 
causes  soever  it  may  be  attributed,  the  fact  is  certain,  that  the 
influence  of  the  Papal  system  was,  by  a  great  deal,  less  power- 
ful among  them  than  in  other  kingdoms  which  were  subject  to 
its  sway.  This  circumstance,  whilst  it  rendered  the  Swiss  con- 
tented with  their  religious  condition,  made  the  severity  of  their 
political  servitude  more  irksome  and  intolerable.  The  barrier 
which,  in  other  countries,  the  pxevailing  system  of  superstition 
had  reared  against  the  assertion  of  popular  rights,  had,  among  this 
people,  almost  no  existence.  Tl.iese  rights,  therefore,  as  might 
have  been  expected,  were  successfully  vindicated  from  a  tyranny 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  73 

that  was  become  too  great  to  meet  with  longer  toleration  ; 
whilst  their  religion,  full  as  it  was  of  absurdities,  having  be- 
come accommodated  to  their  circumstances  and  manners,  and 
being  productive  of  no  evils  of  which  they  were  sensible,  had 
taken  strong  hold  of  their  affection,  and  given  birth,  in  their 
minds,  to  feelings  altogether  hostile  to  change.  To  this  cir- 
cumstance, too,  it  is  probably  owing  that  the  Reformation  was 
not  universally  established  among  the  Swiss.  Hostile  to  im- 
provement as  the  Popish  superstition  is,  and  always  must  be, 
it  had  worn  among  them  its  most  benignant  aspect ;  and,  being 
productive,  in  appearance,  of  no  great  or  immediate  evils, 
they  became  attached  to  it  as  the  inheritance  of  their  fathers, 
and  regarded  its  defence  as  honorable  and  glorious.  How  much, 
it  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  efforts  of  a  brave  people  should 
have  been  so  misdirected,  as  to  fight  for  chains  by  which  they 
were  enslaved,  and  to  carry  devastation  into  the  peaceful  terri- 
tories of  their  countrymen,  in  order  to  perpetuate  among  them  a 
bondage  which  they  had  spurned  !  For,  mild  as  it  appeared 
when  contrasted  with  the  aspect  which  it  wore  in  other  parts 
of  Europe,  still  it  was  slavery ;  and  the  superior  character  for 
intelligence  and  active  industry  by  which  the  Protestant  Can- 
tons have  since  that  time  been  distinguished  from  their  Popisli 
neighbors,  is  a  striking  demonstration  of  the  deleterious  influ- 
ence of  the  Romish  system,  even  when  it  appears  in  its  mildest 
form.  15. 

The  independence  of  Geneva  was  the  offlspring  of  the  Re- 
formation. Under  the  influence  of  that  bold  and  enterpi-i- 
sing  spirit  which  accompanied  the  reception  of  the  Reform- 
ed doctrines,  were  the  citizens  of  this  state  prompted  to  cast  off' 
the  yoke  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  who,  protected  by  the  court 
of  Rome,  held  them  in  subjection.  The  former  tyrants  leagued 
to  crush  their  bold  endeavors  ;  but  not  all  the  thunder  of  pon- 
tifical wrath,  nor  the  fierce  assaults  of  their  secular  oppressors, 
were  effectual  to  reinslave  them.  16.  Their  independence  was 
established  ;  and  it  continued  to  be  their  boast  almost  for  three 

7 


74  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

centuries.  Immediately  on  the  acquisition  of  its  freedom,  this 
interesting  state  began  to  act  a  more  important  part  in  the  con- 
cerns of  Europe.  Thence,  as  from  a  centre,  were  those  rays  of 
truth  diffused  over  surrounding  nations,  by  which  the  sacred 
flame  of  liberty  and  religion  were  kept  alive,  and  brightened, 
and  extensively  spread.  There  the. celebrated  Calvin  employ- 
ed his  mighty  genius  for  the  promotion  of  the  knowledge  and 
happiness  of  mankind.  There  the  venerable  Reformer  of  Scot- 
land obtained  an  asylum  trom  persecution,  and  matured  his 
plans  for  the  emancipation  of  his  country.  There,  too,  a  sanc- 
tuary was  found  by  the  proscribed  and  exiled  English,  driven 
from  their  homes  by  an  infuriated  queen,  who,  abandoning  at 
once  the  tenderness  of  her  sex,  and  the  common  feelings  of  hu- 
manity, had  lighted  up  the  torch  of  persecution,  and  gained  a 
triumph  to  the  cause  of  superstition  amid  the  expiring  cries  of  her 
martyred  people.  Geneva  became  the  metropolis  of  the  Pro- 
testant world ;  and,  by  the  extensive  dissemination  of  the  writ- 
ings of  those  illustrious  men  to  whom  she  either  gave  birth,  or 
afforded  a  refuge,  exerted  a  most  auspicious  influence  on  the 
moral  and  political  condition  of  surrounding  states.  To  Geneva 
we  may  point  as  a  striking  example  of  that  elevation  of  charac- 
ter which  knowledge  and  liberty  can  confer  on  states  otherwise 
contemptible :  nor,  although  her  glory  is,  in  the  mean  time, 
awfully  departed — although  men,  undeserving  of  the  name  of 
Protestants,  have  usurped  those  very  seats  of  learning  and  of 
public  instruction  which,  in  the  days  of  her  golden  age,  were 
nobly  and  worthily  filled  by  the  successors  of  Calvin  and  Beza, 
though,  in  short,  the  blasting  influence  of  a  proud  and  unhal- 
lowed scepticism  has  laid  desolate  the  metropolis  of  the  Refor- 
mation— is  it  improbable,  that,  rescued  from  the  domination  of 
infidelity,  and  brought  once  again  under  the  reviving  influence 
of  Christian  teachers  and  Christian  principles,  she  may  yet,  in 
the  hand  of  that  Providence  which  seems  to  have  preserved  her 
for  interesting  purposes  in  the  government  of  the  world,  be  the 
Instrument  of  performing  services  of  signal  importance  to  the 


ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  75 

cause  of  illumination  and  freedom  among  the  kingdoms  of  Con- 
tinental Europe  ?  17. 

These  cursory  hints  respecting  the  political  efiiect  of  the  Re- 
formation, demonstrate,  that  its  influence  on  the  cause  of  Euro- 
pean liberty  was  both  powerful  and  beneficial.  When  we  be- 
hold that  Revolution  which  effected  such  a  mighty  change  in 
religion,  accomplishing  one  no  less  extraordinary  in  the  charac- 
ter and  sentiments  of  the  nations  in  which  it  was  established  ; 
when  we  perceive  it  not  only  disturbing  the  reign  of  supersti- 
tion, and  rescuing  the  consciences  of  men  from  its  degrading 
dominion,  but  crumbling  to  dust,  by  its  potent  touch,  the  vari- 
ed systems  of  political  oppression,  and  infusing  into  the  gene- 
ral mass  of  the  people  a  noble  spirit  of  investigation  and  enter- 
prize,  extremely  favorable  to  the  progress  of  freedom,  and  of 
the  various  arts  that  benefit  and  adorn  society — can  we  hesitate 
to  pronounce  it  one  of  the  most  auspicious  events  that  ever  have 
taken  place  in  the  history  of  mankind  ?  With  what  feelings 
must  an  intelligent  Protestant,  cast  his  eyes  over  those  regions 
where  the  tyranny  from  which  he  has  been  emancipated,  still 
predominates  ?  In  no  way,  indeed,  are  the  benefits  of  the  Refor- 
mation so  perceptible  as  by  comparing  the  condition  of  the  Pro- 
testant with  that  of  the  Popish  nations.  Liberty  is  by  no  means 
congenial  to  Papal  climes,  and  in  France,  the  must  enlightened 
ed  of  the  Roman  kingdoms,  genuine  liberty  has  never  been  en- 
joyed. Over  her  has  despotism  ruled,  assuming,  at  one  time, 
a  milder,  at  another  time,  a  more  ferocious  aspect.  Of  the 
Popish  nations  in  the  south  of  Europe,  this  is  still  more  empha- 
tically true.  Penetrated  they  once  were  by  the  rays  of  light ;  but 
scarcely  had  that  light  begun  to  spread,  and  to  render  visible  the 
surrounding  darkness,  when  its  progress  was  arrested  by  the 
strong  arm  of  power,  and  they  were  left  amid  the  gloom  of  that 
moral  and  political  degradation  which  is  the  inseparable  attend- 
ant of  priestly  dominion.  All  this  is  pre-eminently  true  of  Spain. 
Her  history  is  awfully  instructive  on  the  subject  of  which  we  arc 
treating.    In  her  the  superstitions  and  idolatries  of  Papal  Rome 


76  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

have  been  displayed  to  all  the  world  in  their  native  deformity, 
and  in  a|l  the  disastrous  influence  which  they  exert  on  the  dear- 
est interests  of  mankind.  O  Popery !  What  revolting  features 
are  thine !  How  appalling  is  thine  aspect,  when  stern  necessity 
compels  thee  not  to  appear  in  milder  array  !  Thou  art  the  nurse 
of  ignorance  I  Thou  tramplest  on  free  inquiry,  and  on  every  li- 
beral sentiment !  Thou  triumphest  in  the  overthrow  of  freedom, 
and  in  the  groans  of  suffering  and  degraded  men  !  Unhappy 
Spain !  Holland,  thy  tributaiy  in  ancient  days,  is  now  free,  whilst 
thou  art  more  a  slave  than  she  was  !  Ill  fated  land  ! 

It  is  consoHng,  however,  to  think  that  we  may  indulge 
cheering  anticipations.  Long  has  been  the  night  of  the  Popish 
lands,  and  dismal  has  been  its  gloom.  Humanity  weeps  at  the 
thought  of  the  many  centuries  of  degradation  through  which 
they  have  passed.  But  the  period  of  their  debasement  will  have 
an  end.  Their  long  and  dreary  night  will  be  succeeded  by  the 
joyful  morn  of  a  bright  and  lasting  day.  The  impulse  which  was 
communicated  to  society  by  the  Reformation  has  not  ceased  to 
operate.  The  progress  of  mind  cannot  now  be  interrupted. 
Rational  liberty,  the  birthright  of  every  member  of  the  family 
oi  man,  will  pervade  the  world;  and  the  degraded  nations  of 
the  earth  will  participate  in  those  blessings  from  which  they  have 
been  long  estranged.  "A  mighty  angel  took  up  a  stone,  like  a 
great  millstone,  and  cast  it  into  the  sea,  saying — Thus,  with  vi- 
olence, shall  that  great  city  Babylon  be  thrown  down,  and  shall 
be  found  no  more  at  all."— Rev.  xviii :  ^1, 


CHAPTER    ZI. 


EFFECT  OF    THE    REFORMATIOX   OK  XATIONAIi 
PROSPERITY. 

From  contemplating  the  effect  of  the  Reformation  on  civil 
liberty,  we  pass  to  the  consideration  of  its  influence  on  the  in- 
ternal security  and  prosperity  of  the  European  states,  and  on 
their  conduct  towards  each  other,  and  in  both  these  points  oi 
view,  it  has  been  productive  of  important  benefits.  It  has  im- 
pressed on  the  minds  of  rulers  and  subjects  their  reciprocal  du- 
ties, and  has  abolished  many  customs  and  institutions  which 
tended  to  corrupt  national  morals,  and  impoverish  national  re- 
sources; and  it  has  also  destroyed  those  illiberal  and  unjust 
principles  which  governed  the  councils  of  nations,  and  has  in- 
fused into  their  intercourse  with  each  other,  a  spirit  of  candor 
and  good  faith,  which  was  formerly  unknown. 

During  the  long  period  in  which  Papal  Rome  possessed  un- 
controlled power,  the  nations  of  Europe  held  their  security  and 
their  peace  by  the  most  precarious  tenure.  In  almost  the  whole 
of  them  the  Papal  system  had  been  so  artfully  entwined  with 
the  affairs  of  government,  and  its  doctrines  had  obtained  so 
powerful  an  ascendencey  over  the  minds  of  their  people,  that 
the  pontiffs  actually  possessed  more  power  in  them  than  their 
monarchs.  That  the  interest  of  the  church  is  of  supreme  im- 
portance, and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  individual  to  seek  the 
good  of  the  church  in  preference,  and  even,  if  it  should  be  ne- 
cessary, in  opposition,  to  the  good  of  his  country,  was   the 

monstrous  maxim  which  they  most  assiduously,  and,  imfortuTi 

7.. 


78  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

ately  for  the  happiness  of  mankind!  most  successfully  inculcated. 
Awfully  must  the  minds  have  been  blighted,  which  could  be  pre- 
vailed on  to  cast  themselves  down  before  such  a  doctrine  as  this— 
a  doctrine  on  which  even  enlightened  reason  impresses  the  brand 
of  infamy,  and  which  was  sufficient,  without  any  other  evidence, 
to  cast  the  stigma  of  utter  abomination  on  that  religion  which 
could  lend  it  her  sanction.  Religion !  The  name,  in  this  case, 
is  misapplied.  Religion  is  holy  and  heavenly  ;  but  is  that  sys- 
tem pure,  can  that  system  be  descended  from  heaven,  which 
seeks  the  extension  of  its  interests  at  the  expense  of  all  the 
peace,  and,  consequently,  all  the  happiness  of  human  society  ? — 
which  not  only  warrants,  but  in  very  deed,  commands  its  vota- 
ries to  sacrifice  at  its  shrine,  the  affection,  and  all  the  endearing 
bonds  of  friendship,  and  amid  whose  pestilential  atmosphere, 
patriotism,  the  noblest  of  earthly  passions,  withers  and  dies  ?  It 
is  impossible.  But  such  was  the  thing  called  religion  in  Europe, 
before  the  Reformation ;  and  revolting  to  every  generous  and 
noble  feeling  is  the  record  of  the  blasting  influence  which  it  shed 
on  the  internal  condition  of  the  European  States.  By  this 
means,  the  pontiffs  possessed  the  entire  ascendency  over  them  ; 
and,  accordingly,  whenever  they  thought  fit  to  denounce  the 
policy  pursued  by  any  prince  as  hostile  to  the  interest  of  the 
church,  how  good  soever  in  itself  that  policy  might  be,  and 
how  much  soever  adapted  to  meliorate  the  condition  of  his  sub- 
jects, its  abandonment  became  absolutely  necessary;  or,  if  per- 
severed in,  the  daring  transgressor  was  proscribed,  and  all  the 
influence  which  the  pontifl!s  possessed  in  his  dominions  was 
called  forth  into  formidable  operation  against  them. 

Of  all  the  instruments  of  vengeance  that  were  wielded  by  the 
Papal  church,  against  those  by  whom  she  conceived  herself  to 
have  been  injured,  the  excommunication  and  the  interdict  were 
the  most  tremendous.  The  former  affected  individuals,  the  lat- 
ter whole  nations.  The  sentence  of  excommunication  was  in- 
flicted often  times  for  the  most  frivolous  offences  ;  and  the  per- 
son against  whom,  in  the  anger  of  the  church,  it  was  denounced. 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  79 

experienced  it  to  be  a  dreadful  infliction.  "  He  was  proscribed 
as  unworthy  of  the  most  common  enjoyments  of  life.  No  one, 
not  even  his  nearest  and  dearest  relation,  was  permitted  to  ap- 
proach him ;  he  forfeited  every  natural  right,  and  every  legal 
privilege ;  he  could  act  in  no  public  capacity  ;  he  could  succeed 
to  no  inheritance ;  and,  even  when  dead,  if  he  died  without 
absolution,  he  was  not  allowed  the  privilege  of  burial ;  but  or- 
dered to  be  flung  into  a  pit,  or  covered  over  with  stones." 
Against  the  terrible  thunders  of  this  anathema,  even  kings  and 
emperors  were  not  secure  ;  and  the  excommunication  of  a  mon- 
arch utterly  degraded  him  in  the  estimation  of  his  subjects.  After 
Robert,  king  of  France,  had  been  excommunicated  by  the  court 
of  Rome,  his  own  servants  threw  the  victuals  which  came  from 
his  table  to  the  dogs,  refusing  to  taste  any  thing  that  had  been 
polluted  by  his  touch.  And  when  Geoflrey,  Archdeacon  of  Nor- 
wich, who  had  been  entrusted  with  an  ofllice  in  the  Court  of  Ex- 
chequer, heard,  while  sitting  on  the  bench,  of  the  excommuni- 
cation of  King  John,  he  mentioned  to  his  colleagues  the  danger 
of  serving  under  an  excommunicated  prince,  and  immediately 
left  the  court.  1. 

But  the  excommunication,  with  all  its  terrors,  was  a  trifle 
when  compared  with  the  Interdict.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive, 
in  its  full  extent,  the  overwhelming  mischief  with  which  the  ope- 
ration of  this  tremendous  engine  of  Papal  vengeance  and  policy 
was  attended.  Confusion  and  dismay  were  spread  over  whole 
kingdoms,  when  they  were  subjected  to  it ;  and  the  imagined 
guilt  of  one  person  was  made  to  involve  the  ruin  of  millions. 
*'  Its  execution,  was  calculated  to  strike  the  senses  in  the  highest 
degree,  and  to  operate  with  irresistible  force  on  the  superstitious 
minds  of  the  people.  The  nation  was,  of  a  sudden,  deprived 
of  all  exterior  exercise  of  its  religion.  The  altars  were  spoiled 
of  their  ornaments.  The  crosses,  the  relics,  the  images,  the 
statues  of  the  saints,  were  laid  on  the  ground ;  and,  as  if  the  air 
itself  had  been  profaned,  and  might  pollute  them  by  its  contact, 
the  priests  carefully  covered  them  up,  even  from  their  own  ap- 


^1}  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

proach  and  veneration.  The  use  of  the  bells  entirely  ceased  in 
all  the  churches.  The  bells  themselves  were  removed  from  their 
steeples,  and  laid  on  the  ground,  with  other  sacred  utensils. 
Mass  was  celebrated  with  shut  doors,  and  none  but  the  priests 
were  admitted.  The  laity  partook  of  no  rite,  except  baptism 
to  new  born  infants,  and  the  viaticum  to  the  dying ;  the  dead 
were  thrown  into  ditches,  or  buried  in  common  fields ;  and 
their  obsequies  were  not  attended  with  prayers,  or  any  ceremony. 
Marriage  was  celebrated  in  the  church-yard ;  and  that  every  ac- 
tion in  life  might  bear  the  marks  of  this  dreadful  situation,  the 
people  were  prohibited  the  use  of  meat,  as  in  Lent,  or  times  of 
the  highest  penance ;  were  debarred  from  all  pleasures  and  en- 
tertainments, or  even  to  salute  each  other,  or  so  much  as  to  shave 
their  beards,  and  give  any  decent  attention  to  their  person  and 
apparel.  2.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  what  effect  such  scenes  as 
these  were  calculated  to  produce  on  the  minds  of  the  ignorant 
and  superstitious.  They  became  indignant  at  the  conduct  of  their 
rulers,  whom  they  regarded  as  the  authors  of  their  misfortunes ; 
and  their  indignation,  cherished  by  the  priesthood,  who  were 
ever  ready  to  espouse  the  cause  of  their  spiritual  masters,  very 
naturally  and  unavoidably  gave  birth  to  insurrections  and  civil 
wars.  Such,  was  the  effect  of  these  scenes,  in  all  the  states 
and  kingdoms  which,  in  this  extraordinary  manner,  were  em- 
broiled by  the  unjust  interference  of  a  foreign  power. 

Now,  the  principle  which  lay  at  the  foundation  of  all  this — 
that  principle  which,  by  stating  an  opposition,  in  the  minds  of 
the  people,  between  the  interests  of  the  church  and  those  of  the 
.state,  sunk  the  latter  into  utter  insignificance — was  one  of  the 
most  preposterous  which  the  human  mind  could  possibly  con- 
ceive. It  established  a  state  within  a  state ;  deprived  the  mon- 
arch of  the  allegiance  of  his  subjects ;  or,  at  least,  rendered  his 
dependence  on  their  allegiance  precarious  in  the  extreme.  It 
was  a  principle  inconsistent  at  once  with  the  dignity  and  the 
rights  of  princes,  and  with  the  duties  of  their  subjects ;  nor,  so 
long  as  it  was  dominant,  could  the  condition  of  society  be  peace- 
ful and  secure. 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  81 

The  Reformation  has  dried  up  this  prolific  source  of  the  mis- 
chiefs which,  during  many  ages,  deluged  the  Christian  world, 
and  has  inspired  the  people  of  Protestant  lands  with  sentiments 
more  consonant  to  reason,  and  more  conducive  to  the  welfare  of 
society.  The  Christian  religion,  restored  to  its  purity,  has  pro- 
claimed itself  the  friend  of  governmeut  and  of  good  order  ;  and, 
identifying  its  interests  with  those  of  the  community  in  which 
it  is  professed,  has  disclaimed  and  prohibited  every  method  for 
its  extension  by  which  the  tranquillity  of  that  community  might 
be  disturbed.  Subordination  to  civil  authority  it  has  ranked 
among  the  imperative  duties  of  its  professors,  a  subordination 
which  no  power  on  earth  may  presume  to  invalidate ;  and, 
branding  as  antichristian  the  assumption  of  secular  power,  on 
the  part  of  its  ministers,  has  limited  all  their  interferences  to  a 
sphere  more  congenial  to  the  character  by  which  they  are  dis- 
tinguished. 

In  this  manner  has  the  Reformation  in  religion  extended  its 
meliorating  influence  to  the  condition  of  political  communities. 
Whilst  it  has  overthrown  the  secular  supremacy  exercised  by  the 
Roman  pontiffs,  it  has  also  demolished  their  spiritual  jurisdic- 
tion ;  and  thus,  excluding  for  ever  any  foreign  interference  with 
the  internal  affairs  of  the  state,  and  rescuing  its  disciples  from 
the  operation  of  that  monstrous  principle  which  established  an 
opposition  between  the  dictates  of  religion  and  the  love  of  coun- 
try, it  has  contributed,  in  no  ordinary  degree,  to  the  stability  of 
government  and  the  happiness  of  civil  society. 

But  the  Reformation,  while  it  has  thus  impressed  on  the  minds 
of  the  people  the  duties  of  obedience  and  love  to  their  country, 
while  it  has  withdravvn  from  its  ascendency  in  their  hearts  the 
idea  that  their  allegiance  is  subject  to  the  control  of  a  foreign 
power,  and  has  taught  them  that  patriotism,  far  from  being,  in 
any  case,  repugnant  to  religion,  is  enforced  with  all  the  weight 
of  her  most  sacred  sanction — has,  at  the  same  time,  pointed  out 
the  duty  and  the  interest  of  rulers,  and  has  effected  a  change  in 
their  sentiments  and  conduct  not  less  auspicious,  nor  of  less  im- 


82  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

portance  to  national  felicity.  The  maxim,  that  the  good  of  the 
church  is  of  infinitely  greater  moment  than  the  good  of  the  state, 
was  one  that  influenced  the  minds  and  the  conduct  of  rulers,  as 
well  as  of  their  people ;  and,  although  there  are  instances  on 
record,  in  which,  on  the  part  of  some  spirited  and  judicious 
princes,  this  hateful  maxim  was  spurned,  it  had  too  often  the  me- 
lancholy effect  of  concealing  from  the  view  of  the  ruling  powers 
the  true  interests  of  their  kingdoms,  and  of  stimulating  measures 
that  were  utterly  hostile  to  their  welfare.  Moreover,  the  cor- 
onation of  princes  was  generally  accompanied  with  the  exaction 
of  an  oath,  in  which  they  swore  fealty  to  the  head  of  the  church, 
and  bound  themselves  to  exterminate  those  whom  he  should  pro- 
nounce to  be  heretics  from  their  dominions  !  It  is  most  manifest 
that  such  an  obligation  was  at  utter  vaaiance  with  all  the  duty 
of  the  prince,  and  with  all  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  his  king- 
dom ;  yet  was  it,  in  most  instances,  faithfully  regarded ;  and  it 
is  painful  to  read  the  details  of  all  the  devastation  and  the  wretch- 
edness that  were  brought  on  the  people  of  many  of  the  states  of 
Europe,  by  the  absurd  attachment  of  their  monarchs  to  so  cruel 
and  degrading  an  imposition.  Naturally  and  directly  did  it  lead 
to  persecution,  than  which  there  is  not  one  thing  more  disastrous 
to  all  that  constitutes  a  nation's  grandeur  and  felicity.  3. 

Wheresoever  it  has  obtained,  the  Reformation  has  introduced 
a  happier  order  of  things.  It  has  rescued  men  in  power  from 
the  dominion  of  a  system  which  bound  them  at  once  to  act  con- 
trary to  their  own  interests,  and  to  violate  the  duty  which '  they 
owed  to  their  subjects.  It  has  torn  in  pieces  that  veil  of  super- 
stition which  was  before  their  eyes,  and  through  which  they  ob- 
tained only  false  and  distorted  views  of  even  their  most  momen- 
tous concerns,  and  has  poured  the  light  of  a  glorious  day  on 
their  duties  and  their  interests.  By  the  mere  change  which  it  has 
effected  in  their  circumstances ;  by  the  deliverance  which  it  has 
brought  them  from  the  oppression  of  a  principle  that,  at  the  nod 
of  a  foreign  power,  bound  them  to  persecute  their  subjects — the 
Reformation  has  done  much  to  promote  both  their  happiness 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY,  83 

and  that  of  their  people.  But  there  has  also  been  produced,  a  har- 
mony of  feeling,  and  a  combination  of  interest,  between  the 
princes  and  the  people,  from  which  Popish  countries,  how  much 
soever  the  progress  of  knowledge  may  have  meliorated  their 
condition,  are  completely  estranged.  Raised  from  a  state  of  in- 
glorious vassalage,  to  reign  over  a  free  and  enlightened  people,  it 
was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Protestant  princes  would  remain 
insensible  of  the  auspicious  change.  Exceptions  there  have  been 
among  them;  but,  in  general,  they  have  displayed  a  liberality  of 
sentiment,  and  a  humanity  of  action,  that  are  not  to  be  found  in 
the  character  or  conduct  of  Popish  monarchs.  Contrast  the  cha- 
racter of  Charles  IX.  with  that  of  his  contemporary  of  England. 
With  what  sentiments  but  those  of  detestation  and  horror  can 
we  regard  the  monarch  who,  on  the  bloodiest  day  in  the  whole 
history  of  France,  when  the  sound  of  the  great  bell  in  her  me- 
tropolis proved  the  signal  of  death  to  thousands  of  her  people, 
and  the  demon  of  persecution  sat  smiling,  in  dismal  triumph, 
over  the  heaps  of  the  wounded  and  the  slain,  took  part  in  the 
work  of  extermination ;  and,  from  the  windows  of  his  palace, 
shot  at  the  terrified  multitudes  who  were  swimming  across  the 
river,  if  happily  they  might  escape  from  the  scene  of  such  mur- 
derous deeds  ?  Surely  there  exists  not  a  mind  so  callous  to  every 
generous  and  humane  sentiment,  as  not  to  rejoice  in  the  over- 
throw of  a  system  that  tended  to  bury  so  entirely  all  the  tender 
feelings  of  our  nature,  and  to  destroy  all  that  liberality  of  thought 
which  is  the  ornament  of  man.  4.  How  different  was  the  con- 
duct of  the  Protestant  queen !  *'  These  are  my  guards,"  said 
Elizabeth,  pointing  to  the  surrounding  crowds  of  her  subjects, 
when  blamed  for  exposing  herself  with  few  attendants. 

The  Reformation  has  promoted  the  internal  security  and  pros- 
perity of  the  states  of  Europe,  by  effecting  the  abolition  of  va- 
rious customs  and  institutions  which  were  calculated  to  corrupt 
their  morals,  and  to  impoverish  their  resources.  The  cruelty  of 
some  of  the  Heathen  emperors,  and  the  terrible  persecutions 
Avith  which  they  visited  the  primitive  Christians,  induced  multi- 


84  EFFECT    OF    THE  REFORMATION 

tudes  of  the  latter  to  escape  into  the  solitary  and  uninhabited 
places,  where  the  enthusiasm  that  distinguished  many  of  them 
was  inflamed  to  an  extraordinary  degree  by  the  gloom  of  the 
surrounding  desert.  Fanaticism  having  continued  the  unnatural 
practice  of  leaving  society,  even  after  the  cause  which  had  .given 
birth  to  it  had  ceased,  the  monastic  life  began  to  assume  a  re- 
gular form.  Edifices  were  reared  and  appn  priated  to  the  pur- 
pose ;  rules  were  prescribed  lor  the  observance  of  their  inhab- 
itants ;  and  eminent  for  piety  was  the  individual  esteemed,  who, 
forsaking  the  vain  pleasures  and  pursuits  of  a  fleeting  world, 
took  up  his  final  retreat  in  one  of  these  solitary  mansions.  This 
was  the  origin  of  monastic  institutions ;  and  one  of  the  most 
surprising  subjects  that  can  engage  our  contemplation,  is  the  ex- 
tent to  which  they  increased.  To  think  of  a  society  that  deriv- 
ed its  existence  from  an  obscure  individual,  who  possessed  no 
influence  save  what  his  fervid  superstition  conferred  upon  him, 
extending  its  ramifications  over  one  kingdom  after  another,  and 
over  one  region  after  another,  till  it  could  boast  of  an  establish- 
ment over  half  the  globe — numbering,  too,  among  its  members, 
statesmen,  kings,  and  emperors,  and  actually  grasping  a  great 
part  of  the  wealth  of  the  nations  in  which  it  prevailed — is  one 
of  the  most  astonishing  scenes  that  history  unfolds. 

The  monastic  life,  is  unnatural, — for  it  is  in  direct  opposition 
to  an  original  principle  of  the  human  mind,  by  which  our  species 
are  connected  among  themselves — the  desire  of  society  ;  nor  is 
there  a  more  striking  phenomenon  in  the  history  of  mankind 
than  this — that  a  wild  enthusiasm  should  acquire  entire  superi- 
ority over  an  affection  to  which  men  in  every  region  in  the  world 
do  homage.  The  professed  and  primary  object  of  monastic  in- 
stitutions is  preposterous.  Little  can  be  said  for  the  rationality 
of  minds  which  could  suppose  that  the  duties  we  owe  to  the  God 
who  made  us,  may  be  better  performed  amid  the  gloom  of  the 
desert,  and  the  dreariness  of  the  cell,  than  in  the  scenes  of  so- 
cial life ! 

But,  although  it  were  granted  that  the  object  of  monastic  in- 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  85 

stitutions  is  not  irrational,  their  existence,  from  the  very  hour  of 
their  commencement  was  one  continued  crime  against  God,  and 
against  human  society,  increasing  every  hour  in  magnitude  and 
atrocity.  Man  is  not  a  being  formed  for  himself  alone.  De- 
pendent on  his  fellows,  his  very  circumstances  point  out  his  des- 
tination. He  is  a  member  of  society,  and  there  are  duties  which 
lie  owes  to  society  of  as  much  importance  in  their  own  place,  as 
those  that  are  more  immediately  required  of  him  by  his  Creator. 
What  estimate,  then,  must  we  form  of  the  conduct  of  him  who 
turns  away  with  utter  contempt  from  all  those  offices  of  social 
duty,  and  bursting  through  all  the  strong  and  endearing  ties  by 
which  he  is  connected  with  the  members  of  the  same  great  fa- 
mily, resolves  to  live  *'  a  solitary  man  ?"  Be  it  that  his  solitude 
is  devoted  to  the  most  rigid  observances  of  superstitious  devo- 
tion, that  it  even  exhibits  the  reality  of  the  poet's  picture — 

"  His  dwelling  a  recess  in  some  rude  rock, 
Book,  beads,  and  maple  dish,  his  meagre  stock; 
In  shirt  of  hair,  and  weeds  of  canvas  dress'd, 
Girt  with  a  bell-rope  that  the  Pope  has  bless'd ; 
Adust  with  stripes  told  out  for  every  crime, 
And  sore  tormented  long  before  his  time : — 
See  the  sage  hermit  by  mankind  admired, 
With  all  that  bigotry  adopts  inspired, 
Wearing  oat  life  in  his  religious  whim, 
Till  his  religious  whimsy  wears  out  him." 

Can  his  conduct  be  approved?  It  cannot.    Reason  whispers-- 

"  He  who  a  hermit  is  resolved  to  dwell, 
And  bid  to  social  life  a  long  farewell, 
Is  impious." 

His  own  experience,  too — the  entire  absence  from  his  miiid 
of  every  thing  like  solid  contentment — suggests  that  he  acts  not 
as  he  ought. — 

"  God  never  made  a  solitary  man ; 
'Twould  mar  the  concord  of  his  general  plan.— 
8 


88  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

Should  man  through  nature  solitary  roam, 

His  will  his  sovereign,  every  where  liis  home, 

What  force  woulJ  guard  him  from  the  lioi.'s  jaw^? 

What  swiftness  .save  him  from  the  panther's  paw  ?  . 

Or  should  fate  lead  him  to  some  safer  shore, 

Where  panthers  never  prowl,  nor  lions  roar, 

Where  liberal  Nature  all  her  charms  bestows, 

Suns  shine,  birds  sing,  flowers  bloom,  and  water  flows. 

Still  discontented,  though  s\ich  glories  shone, 

He'd  sigh  and  n)urmur  to  be  there  alone." 

If,  from  the  suggestions  of  reason  and  experience,  we  turn  to 
the  dictates  of  inspiration,  to  which  every  appeal  respecting  mo- 
ral duty  must  ultimately  be  made,  they  recognise  the  social  du- 
ties of  man  no  less  explicitly  than  those  of  religion,  and  declare 
that  the  one  must  never  usurp  the  place  of  the  other. 

"  Go,  teach  the  drone  of  saintly  haunts, 
That  wastes  in  indolence  his  time. 
Though  many  a  holy  hymn  he  chaunts. 
His  life  is  one  continued  crime." 

Look,  then,  to  the  aggregate  of  injury  which,  in  the  with- 
drawment  of  its  members,  was  inflicted  on  society  by  these  in- 
stitutions, during  the  long  period  of  twelve  centuries,  and,  ne- 
gative though  the  crime  be,  it  will  not  be  easil)*  counterbal- 
anced. If  the  beings  devoted  to  monachism  during  all  that  time  be 
estimated  at  the  permanent  average  of  three  hundred  thousand, — 
a  number,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  greatly  below  the  truth, — 
forty  generations  passed  away  in  that  period,  and  a  total  is  pre- 
sented to  us  equal  to  the  population  of  England — perhaps 
double  or  triple  that  number — of  our  fellow-creatures,  to  whose 
exertions  in  her  service,  society  had  a  right  of  which  she  couhl 
not  be  deprived,  snatched  away  from  her,  and  with  all  those 
powers  and  faculties,  which,  under  a  kindiier  influence,  might 
have  been  her  ornament  and  her  delight,  buried  in  the  lone  de- 
sert! 5.  Who  can  tell,  amid  all  this  prodigious  overthro\V  of  mind, 
how  many  mighty  spirits  were  crushed  in  tlieir  opening   ener- 


ON  NATIOxNAL  PROSPERITY.  87 

gies?  How  many  individuaJs  were  condemned  to  live  in  vain, 
through  whose  enterprising  efforts  light  might  have  heen  shed 
on  the  paths  of  literature,  or  on  the  truths  of  religion  !  Who 
can  tell  whether  the  c  mbined  exertions  of  many  of  these  lost 
myriads  might  not  have  prevented  the  disastn  us  reigr,  of  dark- 
ness that  ensued,  and  rendered  the  Reformation  unnecessary? 
At  all  events,  who  can  daubt,  that,  in  all  this  inc  -nceivable  mul- 
titude, there  were  many  who  wouM  have  occupied  important 
stations  in  society ; — many  wlio  would  have  proved  the  centre 
of  domestic  charities,  the  lovers  of  freedcm,  the  friends  and  be- 
nefactors of  their  species  ?  What  can  redeem,  from  the  charge 
of  atrocious  guilt,  the  system  which  occasioned  such  gigantic 
ruin  of  intellectual  and  moral,  as  well  as  of  physical  powers ! 

This,  however,  is  not  the  precise  view  of  the  injury  done  to 
society  by  monastic  institutions,  nor  is  it  that  in  which  their  cri- 
minality appears  invested  with  its  highest  aggravation.  It  is,  in- 
deed, much  to  deprive  society  of  the  benevolent  exertions  of 
millions  of  her  members ;  but  it  is  a  painful  addition  to  set  all 
these  millions  in  hostility  against  her.  From  the  principles  on 
which  these  institutions  were  established,  and  the  conduct  which 
characterized  their  members,  they  were  arrayed  against  her 
prosperity  and  her  peace.  The  principles  on  which  they  were 
instituted  were  those  of  entire  devotedness  to  the  court  of 
Rome,  and  absolute  independence  on  the  civil  power.  Now, 
the  exemption  of  such  vast  numbers  of  ecclesiastical  persons 
from  all  subjection  to  the  secular  authorities,  was  utterly  at  vari- 
ance with  national  security  ;  yet  this  exemption  v.  as  claimed  for 
them,  and  during  many  ages  afforded  ground  of  contention  and 
warfare  in  alnost  every  nation  of  Europe.  It  was  too  late,  after 
the  Reformation  had  taken  place,  to  thmk  of  continuing  such  a 
state  of  matters  ;  but  its  continuation  v/as  attempted,  and,  in  the 
articles  decreed  by  the  Council  of  Trent,  for  the  reformation  of 
princes  and  civil  magistrates — which  were,  in  fact,  but  a  col- 
lection and  confirmation  of  the  decrees  of  former  councils — we 
may  read  at  once  a  description  of  the  state  of  Christendom  for 
ages  previous  to  the  Reformation,  and  of  the  state  in  which,  if 


88  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

Papal  influence  had  been  sufficiently  powerful,  it  would  still  have 
remained.  The  principal  decrees  of  this  Council,  on  this  sub- 
ject, are  the  following: — "That  persons  ecclesiastical,  even 
though  their  clerical  title  should  be  doubtful,  and  though  they^- 
themselves  should  consent,  cannot,  under  any  pretext,  even  that 
of  public  utility,  be  judged  in  a  secular  judicatory.  Even  in 
cases  of  notorious  assassination,  or  other  excepted  cases,  their 
prosecution  must  be  preceded  by  a  declaration  of  the  bishop  of 
jhe  diocese.  That  in  causes  spiritual,  matrimonial,  those  of  he- 
resy, tythes,  (kc.  civil,  criminal,  mixed,  belonging  to  the  eccle- 
siastical court,  as  well  over  persons  as  over  goods,  pertaining  to 
the  church,  the  temporal  judge  cannot  intermeddle,  notwith- 
standing any  appeal,  &c.  ;  and  those  who,  in  such  causes,  shall 
recur  to  the  civil  power,  shall  be  excommunicated,  and  deprived 
of  the  rights  contended  for.  Secular  men  cannot  constitute 
judges  in  causes  ecclesiastical;  a  clergyman,  who  shall  accept 
such  offices  from  a  layman,  shall  be  suspended  from  orders,  de- 
prived of  benefices,  and  incapacitated.  No  king  or  emperor  can* 
make  edicts,  relating  to  causes  trr-^ersons  ecclesiastical,  or  in- 
termeddle with  their  jurisdiction,  or  even  with  the  Inquisition, 
but  are  obliged  to  lend  their  arm  to  the  ecclesiastical  judges,  when 
called  on.  Ecclesiastics  shall  not  be  constrained  to  pay  taxes, 
excise,  &c.  not  even  under  the  name  of  free  gifts,  or  loans, 
either  for  patrimonial  goods,  or  the  goods  of  the  church. — 
Princes  and  magistrates  shall  not  quarter  their  officers,  &c.  on 
the  houses  or  monasteries  of  ecclesiastics,  nor  draw  thence 
aught  for  victuals,  or  passage-money,  &.c.  And  there  was  an 
admonition  to  all  princes  to  have  in  veneration  the  things  which 
ure  of  ecclesiastical  right,  as  pertaining  to  God,  and  not  to  allow 
others  herein  to  offend,  renewing  all  the  constitutions  of  sove- 
reign pontiffs,  and  sacred  canons,  in  favor  of  ecclesiastical  im- 
munities, commanding,  under  pain  of  anathema,  that,  neither  di- 
rectly, nor  indirectly,  under  any  pretence,  aught  be  enacted  or 
executed  against  ecclesiastical  persons,  or  goods,  or  againsi 
their  liberty;  any  privilege  or  immemorial  exception  to  the 
■  contrarv  notwithstandinir." 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  89 

Such  are  the  privileges  which,  not  the  monks  only,  but  all  the 
orders  of  the  clergy,  insulted  the  powers  of  Europe  by  arrogat- 
ing to  themselves,  and  in  asserting  which,  they  frequently  threw 
whole  kingdoms  into  confusion.  "  It  is  evident,  that  these  arti- 
cles imply  a  total  independence  of  the  ecclesiastic  on  the  secular 
powers,  inasmuch  as  the  latter  could,  on  this  plan,  use  no  coer- 
cive measures,  either  for  preventing  the  commission  of  crimes 
by  the  former,  or  for  punishing  them  when  committed — could 
not,  even  for  the  eviction  of  civil  debts,  or  discharge  of  lawful 
obHgations,  affect  the  clergy,  either  in  person  or  property,  mov- 
able or  immovable;  and  could  exact  no  aid  from  them  for  the 
exigencies  of  the  stale,  however  urgent.  Besides,  the  indepen- 
dence was  solely  on  the  side  of  the  clergy.  The  laity  could 
not,  by  their  civil  sanctions,  affect  the  clergy  without  their  own 
concurrence  ;  but  the  clergy,  both  by  their  civil  and  by  their  re- 
ligious sanctions,  could  affect  the  laity,  and,  in  spite  of  their  op- 
position, whilst  the  people  had  any  religion,  bring  the  most  ob- 
stinate to  their  terms.  The  civil  judge  could  not  compel  a  cler- 
gyman to  appear  before  his  tribunal ;  the  ecclesiastical  judge 
could  compel  a  layman,  and  did  daily  compel  such,  to  appear  be- 
fore him.  And  in  all  the  interferings  and  disputes  between  in- 
dividuals of  the  different  orders,  the  clerical  only  could  decide. 
Moreover,  though  the  kinds  of  power,  in  the  different  orders, 
were  commonly  distinguished  into  temporal  and  spiritual,  the 
much  greater  part  of  the  power  of  the  ecclesiastics  was  strictly 
temporal.  Matters  spiritual  are  those  only  of  faith  and  man- 
ners ;  and  the  latter  only  as  manners ;  that  is,  as  influencing 
opinion,  wounding  charity,  or  raising  scandal.  Whereas,  under 
the  general  term  spiritual,  they  had  got  included  the  more  im- 
portant part  of  civil  matters  also,  affairs  matrimonial  and  testa- 
mentary, questions*  of  legitimacy  and  succession,  covenants,  and 
conventions,  and  wherever  the  interposition  of  an  oath  was 
customary.  Add  to  these,  that  they  were  the  sole  arbiters  of 
the  rights  avowedly  civil  of  the  church  and  churchmen,  and  in 
every  thing  wherein  these  had,  in  common  with  laymen,  any 
share  or  concern."     The  Popish  clergy  generally,   and  cspe- 

8* 


90  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

cially  the  monastic  orders,  were  "  a  sort  of  spiritual  ariny,  dis- 
persed in  differeiit  quarters,  indeed,  throughout  Europe,  but  of 
which  all  the  movements  and  operations  could  be  directed  by 
one  hand,  and  conducted  upon  one  uniform  plan."  The  monks 
of  each  particular  country  "  were  a  particular  detachment  of 
that  army,  of  which  the  operations  could  easily  be  supported 
and  seconded  by  all  the  other  detachments,  quartered  in  the  dif- 
ferent countries  round  about.  Each  detachment  was  not  only 
independent  of  the  sovereign  of  the  country  in  which  it  was 
quartered,  and  by  which  it  was  maintained,  but  dependent  on  a 
foreign  sovereign,  who  could  at  any  time  turn  its  arms  against  the 
sovereign  of  that  particular  country,  and  support  them  by  the 
arms  of  all  the  other  detachments." 

The  monastic  institutions  were  injurious  to  the  states  of 
Europe,  inasmuch  as  they  absorbed  a  vast  portion  of  national 
wealth.  It  is  not  merely  true  of  them  that  they  were  supported 
in  affluence  and  splendor— at  the  expence  of  the  very  commu- 
nity whose  claims  on  their  services  they  had  spurned;  but  aid- 
ed by  the  delusions  which  Popery  had  spread  over  the  world, 
they  drew  into  their  possession  immense  riches,  the  greater 
part  of  which,  as  to  any  advantage  resulting  from  it  to  the  state, 
became  from  that  moment  utterly  dead.  "  In  England  the  pro- 
digious increase  of  the  riches  of  the  church  had  long  been  the 
subject  of  complaint,  as  a  matter  of  the  utmost  prejudice  to  the 
state,  The  barons,  indeed,  had  taken  care  to  insert  a  clause  in 
the  great  charter,  which  expressly  prohibited  any  one  to  alien- 
ate his  lands  to  the  church ;  but  this  prohibition  had  no  effect. 
The  church  still  continued  to  acquire  estates,  Avhich  were  never 
afterwards  alienated;  and  yet,  all  these  estates  were  in  a  dead 
hand,  as  to  any  return  to  the  state.  They  afforded  neither 
wards,  reliefs,  nor  marriages,  like  other  lands ;  and,  in  propor- 
tion, therefore,  as  their  revenues  increased,  the  public  exche- 
quer was  impoverished  ;  nor  would  England,  in  some  ages,  if 
this  custom  had  been  continued,  have  been  any  thing  more  than 
a  nation  of  monasteries  and  churches.  Edward  I.  therefore, 
proposed  to  make  a  law,  which  should   effectually  prevent  the 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  91 

continuance  of  this  evil,  by  prohibiting  any  one  to  dispose  of 
his  estates,  without  the  king's  consent,  to  societies  which  never 
die;  and,  accordingly,  was  passed  the  famous  statute  of  Mort- 
main." In  spite  of  all  these  precautions,  the  cajise  of  raonach- 
ism  prevailed  so  much,  that  no  fewer  than  six  hundred  and  for- 
ty-Jive religious  houses  were  suppressed  by  Henry  at  the  Refor- 
mation, the  annual  revenues  of  which,  were  equivalent  to  six 
millions  of  our  present  money. 

In  Sweden,  the  property  which  belonged  to  the  church  was 
of  more  value  than  all  the  other  estates  of  the  kingdom  toge- 
ther. In  Cambresis,  a  province  of  the  Netherlands,  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  ecclesiastics  were,  to  those  of  the  whole  laity,  as 
fourteen  to  three  !  "  At  every  step  of  our  progress  in  France,  wr 
find  monasteries  and  magnificent  abbeys,  more  rich  still  than 
they  appear.  When  travelling,  I  have  often  asked,  to  whom 
these  farms,  these  woods,  these  lands,  belong?  and  have  al- 
most alv/ays  been  answered,  to  such  an  abbey,  to  such  a  com- 
munity, to  such  a  chapter  !  If  to  these  immovable  possessions 
be  added  the  annuities,  the  tithes,  and  other  contributions,  we 
must  conclude,  that  at  least  the  half  of  the  property  of  the  king- 
dom is  in  the  hands  of  the  priests  and  the  monks." — "  What  I 
say  of  Fraiice,  is  still  more  sensibly  true  of  Spain,  Italy,  Flan- 
ders, and  Germany.  If  the  Pope  were  master  of  all  these  estates, 
and  could  appropriate  the  use  of  them  to  himself,  he  would  be 
the  richest  sovereign  in  the  world.  To  find  any  to  equal  him, 
it  would  be  absolutely  necessary  to  raise  again  the  ancient 
kings  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  the  Montezumas  and  the  Atabilpas." 
Scotland,  too,  poor  though  she  was,  sacrificed  largely  at  the 
shrine  of  monastic  folly.  One  of  her  princes,  David,  in  the 
12th  century,  founded  and  endowed  no  fewer  than  tu-elve  mag- 
nificent fabrics,  consecrated  to  the  purposes  of  monachism,  for 
which  the  church  honored  him  with  the  insertion  of  bis  name 
in  her  saintly  calendar. 

But  the  revenues  which  tliey  derived  from  their  endowments 
in  land,  and  from  their  church  livings,  although  quite  enormous, 
were  not  the  only  sources  of  wealth  to  the  monasteries.     Sums 


93  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

exceeding  conception  came  into  their  possession  from  the  sale  of 
relics,  and  the  voluntary  offerings  of  superstitious  devotees. 
Perpetually  were  the  religious  of  the  monasteries  exhibiting  a 
vast  variety  of  relics^  whose  virtues  were  marvellously  adapted 
to  all  the  exigencies  of  human  life  ;  there  were,  for  example, 
three  or  four  arms  of  Andrew,  some  dozens  of  Jeremiah's 
teeth,  the  parings  of  Edmund's  toes,  some  of  the  coals  that  roast- 
ed Laurence,  the  girdle  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  shown  in  eleven 
several  places,  two  or  three  heads  of  Ursula,  some  of  Peter's 
buttons,  and  many  rags,  of  the  muslin  and  the  lace  of  Margaret 
and  Clara,  and  other  illustrious  female  saints  !  A  thousand  mar- 
vellous properties  were  attributed  to  these  precious  relics.  They 
had  power  to  fortify  against  temptation,  to  infuse  and  strengthen 
grace,  ta  drive  away  the  devil  and  all  evil  spirits,  to  allay 
winds  and  tempests,  to  purify  the  air,  to  secure  from  thunder 
and  lightning,  to  arrest  the  progress  of  contagion,  and  to  heal 
all  diseases  !  Indeed,  it  was  much  more  difficult  to  tell  what  they 
could  not,  than  what  they  could  do  !  To  be  permitted  to  touch, 
or  even  to  see  these  hallowed  things,  was  a  privilege  for  which 
the  people  had  to  pay;  but  the  possession  of  them  was  to  be  ob- 
tained only  with  a  very  great  price  ;  and  the  virtue  by  which 
they  were  distinguished,  was  also  proportioned  to  the  rate  at 
which  they  had  been  procured.  6.  In  addition  to  the  immense 
sums  received  for  their  relics,  the  monasteries  were  ever  attest- 
ing some  new  miracle,  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  the  un- 
healthy, the  penitent,  and  the  pilgrim;  all  of  whom  were  ex- 
pected to  leave  an  offering  behind  them  to  the  wonder-working 
saint.  The  wealth  of  which,  by  these  means,  the  monks  became 
possessed,  was  enormous.  An  English  historian  informs  us,  that 
the  offerings  at  the  shrine  of  Thomas  Becket  amounted,  in  one 
year,  to  nine  hundred  and  fifty-four  pounds, — a  sum  equivalent 
lo  ten  thousand  pounds  of  our  present  money  ;  and  that  the 
gold  taken  from  the  shrine,  at  the  time  of  the  demolition  of  the 
religious  houses,  "  filled  two  chests,  which  eight  strong  men 
could  hardly  carry."  "  The  jewels,  the  plate,  the  furniture, 
and  other  goods,  which   belonged   to   all    these   houses,  must 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  93 

have  amounted  to  a  prodigious  sum,  of  which  no  computation 
can  now  be  made.  In  many  of  the  rich  monasteries,  their  vest- 
ments were  of  cloth  of  gold,  silk,  and  relvet,  richly  embroider- 
ed ;  and  their  cruci^xes,  images,  candlesticks,  and  other  uten- 
sils and  ornaments  of  their  churches,  were  of  silver,  silver- 
gilt,  and  gold." 

And  what  was  the  mighty  benefit  which,  in  return  for  all  th( 
splendid  gifts  they  received,  the  monastics  conferred  on  their 
devotees?  invariably  the  grand  return  made  to  the  donors,  was 
a  promise  that  all  the  influence  which  the  fathers  possessed  in 
heaven  should  be  exerted  in  behalf  of  their  souls,  and  the  souls 
of  their  relations !  What  imposition  can  be  too  gross,  for  de- 
ceiving an  ignorant  and  superstitious  people?  The  sanctity  of 
he  recluses  consisted  wholly,  or  chiefly  in  some  ridiculous  sin- 
gularity of  garb;  yet  was  the  world  so  much  infatuated  by  their 
appearance,  that  liberality  to  them — even  to  the  beggaring  of 
their  own  children — was  regarded  as  the  most  direct  path  to  hea- 
ven; nor,  it  was  imagined,  could  immortal  happiness  be  more 
effectually  secured,  than  by  giving  the  luxuries  of  life  to  those 
w^ho  had  bound  themselves  to  live  in  abstinence,  and  by  enrich- 
ing those  who  had  sworn  to  live  for  ever  poor !  Thus  were  the 
people  deluded,  and  thus  the  pretensions  of  the  monastic  fathers 
to  poverty  and  austere  piety  were  mere  cant ;  for,  amid  all  the 
gloom,  and  all  the  affected  rigidity  of  their  character  and  their 
devotions,  they  never  manifested  much  reluctance  to  encumber 
themselves  with  the  riches  that  perish,  and  to  barter  for  the 
carnal  things  of  this  world,  the  precious  commodities  of  the 
world  to  come. 

It  would  have  been  well,  however,  if  the  mere  absorption  of 
jnoperty  and  of  wealth  had  been  all  the  positive  evil  with  which 
the  monastic  institutions  were  chargeable.  It  is  manifest  that 
this,  in  process  of  time,  would  have  effected  the  ruin  of  society  : 
and,  but  for  the  Reformation,  Europe  would,  ere  long,  have 
become  a  region  of  monasteries  and  of  monks.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  the  moral  influence  which  they  exerted,  that  renders  them 
]ire-eminently  infamous,  and  throws  over  their  guilt  its  deepest 


94  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

and  darkest  shade  of  atrocity.  The  morality  of  a  nation  con- 
fciitutes  its  highest  glory ;  when  that  is  gone,  its  worth  is  de- 
parted, and  though  it  may  continue  to  boast  of  trade,  and 
riches,  and  power,  it  is  become  an  abomination  in  the  earth. 
Now,  it  is  a  fact  which  cannot  be  disputed,  that  these  institu- 
tions naturally  tended,  and  did  greatly  contribute,  to  spread  the 
ruin  of  moral  character,  over  every  country  in  ^vhich  they  pre- 
vailed. There  is  not  one  individual  of  our  species,  on  whose 
mind  seclusion  from  society  would  not  produce  the  most  bane- 
ful effects.  It  would  either  give  to  his  character  the  complexion 
of  a  rigid,  unsocial  misanthrope,  or  inspire  him  with  all  the 
fervor  of  fanatical  frenzy.  Men  of  strong  mental  powers,  im- 
proved by  education,  have  been  unable  to  withstand  its  influ- 
ence. *'  Indeed,  it  seems  to  be  the  unavoidable  eflfect  of  a  mon- 
astic education,  to  contract  and  fetter  the  human  mind.  The 
partial  attachment  of  a  monk  to  the  interest  of  his  order,  which 
is  often  incompatible  with  that  of  other  citizens — the  habit  of  im- 
plicit obedience  to  the  will  of  a  superior,  together  with  the  fre- 
quent return  of  the  wearisome  and  frivolous  duties  of  the  clois- 
ter— debase  his  faculties,  and  extinguish  that  generosity  of  sen- 
timent and  spirit,  which  qualifies  men  for*  thinking  or  feeling 
justly,  with  respect  to  what  is  proper  in  life  and  conduct."  The 
effect  of  monastic  seclusion  on  the  female  mind,  has  been  some- 
limes  of  a  singular  cast.  In  a  convent  of  nuns  in  France,  a 
strange  impulse  seized  one  of  the  fair  sisterhood  to  meAv  like  a 
cat,  Avhich  soon  communicated  itself  to  the  rest,  and  became 
general  throughout  the  convent,  till,  at  last,  they  all  joined,  at 
stated  periods,  in  the  practice  of  mewing,  and  continued  it  for 
several  hours  ! 

In  the  fifteenth  century,  one  of  the  nuns  in  a  German  convent 
was  seized  with  a  strange  propensity  to  hite  all  her  companions ; 
and,  surprising  as  it  may  seem,  this  disposition  spread  among 
them,  till  the  whole  sisterhood  was  infected  with  the  same  fury. 
This  exhibits  the  ludicrous  of  monachism ;  but  it  is  the  effect 
which  it  has  produced  on  the  passions.,  that  mankind  have  had 
most  reason  to  deplore.     Men  may  think  to  escape  the  power  of 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  05 

passion,  by  escaping  from  the  view  of  those  objects  by  which 
it  was  excited ;  but  experience  teJls  us  that  the  thought  is  vain. 
"  The  cahn  which  seems  to  accompany  the  mind  in  its  retreat  is 
deceitful  :  the  passions  are  secretly  at  work  within  the  heart; 
the  imagination  is  continually  heaping  fuel  on  the  latent  fire,  and 
at  length  the  labouring  desire  bursts  forth,  and  glows  with  vol- 
canic heat  and  fury.     The  man  may  change  his  habitation,  but 
the  same  passions  and  inclinations  lodge  within  him ;  and,  though 
they  appear  to  be  undisturbed  and  inactive,  are  silently  influ- 
encing all  the  propensities  of  his  heart.     Even. minds  under  the 
influence  of  virtuous  principle,  could  with  difliculty  stem  the  im- 
petuous t  jrrent;  and  as  for  those  of  an  opposite  description,  it 
i^  not  wonderful  that  they  should  be  overcome."     The  celibacy, 
the  poverty,  and  the  self-tormenting  punishments   to  whicli  the 
advocates  of  monachism  pretended  to  dedicate  themselves,  were 
the  means  of  fostering  their  pride,  their  ambition,  and  their  sen- 
sual inclinations  ;  and  so  quickly  was  the  semblance  of  sanctitv 
banished  from  their  habitations,  that,   in  the  ninth  century,  the 
most  strenuous  eflforts  of  Charlemagne  were  inadequate  to  the 
task  of  repressing  the  disorders  with  which  they  were  pervaded- 
Ignorance,  arrogance,  and  luxury,  were  the  prominent  features 
in  the  character,  not,  indeed,  of  the  monks  only,  but  of  all  the 
orders  of  clergy.     '*  Worldly  ambition,   gross  voluptuousness, 
and  grosser  ignorance,  characterized  their  various  ranks  ;  and 
the  open  sale  of  benefices  placed  them  often  in  the  hands  of  the 
basest  of  men." 

The  history  of  monastics  exhibits,  that  their  hearts  were 
corrupted  with  the  worst  passions  that  disgrace  humanity,  and 
the  discipline  of  the  convent  was  seldom  productive  of  a  single 
virtue.  The  prelates  exceeded  the  inferior  clergy  in  every  kind 
of  profligacy,  as  much  as  in  opulence  and  power ;  and,  of  course, 
their  superintending  and  visitorial  authority  was  not  exerted  to 
lessen  or  restrain  the  prevalence  of  those  vices,  which  their  evil 
example  contributed  so  largely  to  increase. 

"The  celebrated  Boccace  has,  by  his  witty  and  ingenious 
tales,  very  severely  satirized  the  licentiousness  and  immorality 


96  EFFECT    OF    TilE  REFORMATION 

which  prevailed  during  his  time,  in  the  Italian  monasteries  ;  but 
by  exposing  the  scandalous  lives,  and  lashing  the  vices  of  the 
monks,  nuns,  and  other  orders  of  the  Papal  clergy,  he  has  been 
decried  as  a  contemner  of  religion,  and  as  an  enemy  to  true 
piety.  Contemporary  historians  have  also  delivered  the  most 
disgusting  accounts  of  their  intemperance  and  debauchery. 
The  frailty,  indeed,  of  the  female  monastics,  was  even  an  arti- 
cle of  regular  taxation  ;  and  the  Holy  Father  did  not  disdain  to 
lill  his  cofiers  with  the  price  of  their  impurities.  The  frail  nun, 
whether  she  had  become  immured  within  a  convent,  or  still  re- 
sided without  its  walls,  might  redeem  her  lost  honor,  and  be  re- 
instated in  hei  former  dignity  and  virtue,  for  a  few  ducats.  This 
scandalous  traffic  was  carried  to  an  extent  that  soon  destroyed 
all  sense  of  morality,  and  l^eightened  the  hue  of  vice.  Ambro- 
sius  of  Canadoli,  a  prelate  of  extraordinary  virtue,  visited  vari- 
ous convents  in  his  diocese  ;  but  on  inspecting  their  proceedings, 
he  found  no  traces  even  of  decency,  remaining  in  any  one  of 
them,  nor  was  he  able,  with  all  the  sagacity  he  exercised  on  the 
subject,  to  re-infuse  the  smallest  particle  of  these  qualities  into 
the  degenerated  minds  of  the  sisterhood.  The  reform  of  the 
nunneries  was  the  first  step  that  distinguished  the  government  of 
Sixtus  IV.  after  he  ascended  the  Papal  throne,  at  the  close  of 
the  fifteenth  century.  Bossus,  a  celebrated  canon,  of  the  strict- 
est principles,  and  a  most  inflexible  disposition,  was  the  agent 
selected  by  his  hohness  for  this  arduous  achievement.  The 
Genoese  convents,  where  the  nuns  lived  in  open  defiance  of  all 
the  rules  of  decency,  and  the  precepts  of  religion,  were  the  first 
objects  of  his  attention.  The  orations  which  he  pubUcly  uttered 
from  the  pulpit,  as  well  as  the  private  lectures  and  exhortations 
which  he  delivered  to  the  nuns  from  the  confessional  chair,  were 
fine  models,  not  only  of  his  zeal  and  probity,  but  of  his  litera- 
ture and  eloquence,  They  breathed,  in  the  most  impressive 
manner,  the  true  spirit  of  Christian  purity ;  but  his  glowing  re- 
presentations of  the  bright  beauties  of  virtue,  and  the  dark  de- 
formities of  vice,  made  little  impression  upon  their  corrupted 
hearts.     Despising  the  open  calumnies  of  the  envious,  and  the 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  97 

secret  hostilities  of  the  guilty,  he  proceeded,  in  spite  of  all  dis- 
couragement and  opposition,  in  his  highly  honorable  pursuit ;  and 
at  length,  by  his  wisdom  and  assiduity,  beheld  the  fairest  pros- 
pe€is  of  success  daily  opening  to  his  view.  The  rays  of  hope, 
however,  had  scarcely  beamed  upon  his  endeavors,  when  they 
were  immediately  oyerclouded  by  disappointment.  The  arm  of 
magistracy,  which  he  had  wisely  called  upon  to  aid  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  design,  was  enervated  by  the  venality  of  its 
}iand;  and  the  incorrigible  objects  of  his  solicitude  having  freed 
themselves,  by  bribery,  from  the  terror  of  the  civil  power,  con- 
temned the  reformer's  denunciations  of  eternal  vengeance  here- 
after,  and  relapsed  into  their  former  licentiousness  and  depravity. 
A  few,  indeed,  among  the  great  number  of  nuns  who  inhabited 
those  guilty  convents,  were  converted  by  the  force  of  his  elo- 
quent remonstrances,  and  became  afterwards  highly  exemplary 
by  the  virtue  of  their  lives,  but  the  rest  abandoned  themselves  to 
their  impious  courses ;  and,  though  more  vigorous  methods 
were,  in  a  short  time,  adopted  against  the  refractory  monastics, 
they  set  all  attempts  to  reform  them  at  defiance.  The  modes, 
perhaps,  in  which  their  vices  were  indulged,  changed  with  the 
character  of  the  age ;  and,  as  manners  grew  more  refined,  the 
gross  and  shameful  indulgences  of  the  monks  and  nuns  were 
changed  into  a  more  elegant  and  decent  style  of  enjoyment. 
Fashion  might  render  them  more  prudent  and  reserved  in  their 
intrigues,  but  their  passions  were  not  less  vicious,  nor  their  dis- 
positions less  corrupt." 

Such  is  the  record  of  monastic  profligacy  and  corruption ;  and 
when  we  t-nnk  how  the  monks  were  regarded  by  the  people 
with  profou<<dest  reverence,  and,  moreover  with  what  swarms  of 
them  Europe  was  filled — "  friars,  white,  black,  and  grey  ;  can- 
ons regular,  and  of  Anthony ;  CarmeUtes,  Carthusians,  Corde- 
liers, Dominicans,  Franciscans  Conventual  and  Observantines, 
Jacobines,  Reinonstratensians,  Monks  of  Tyronne  and  of  Vallis 
Caulium,  Hospitallers,  or  Knights  of  John  of  Jerusalem;  Nuns 
of  Austin,  Clare,  Scholastica,  Catherine  of  Sienna ;  with  Can- 
onesses  of  various  clans,"-— we  cannot  entertain  a  doubt,  that  the 

9 


98  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

contagion  of  their  example  operated  with  most  debasing  and 
corrupting  effect  upon  the  character  of  mankind.  What  must 
have  been  the  condition  of  morality,  when  its  professed  teachers 
were  so  immoral?  What,  in  the  view  of  the  God  of  truth  and 
purity,  must  be  the  turpitude  of  that  system,  or  of  that  widely 
extended  institution,  which,  for  more  than  a  thousand  years, 
spread  its  unhallowed  influence  over  so  great  a  portion  of  the 
world,  and  triumphed  in  the  overthrow  of  all  that  is  virtuous 
and'  noble  in  the  character  of  man  ?  The  Reformation,  in  effect- 
ing the  overthrow  of  the  monastic  system,  has  promoted,  in  no 
ordinary  degree,  the  prosperity  of  every  state  in  which  it  has 
obtained.  We  do  not  deny,  that  at  one  period,  all  the  little 
learning  of  which  Europe  could  boast,  was  included  within  clois- 
tered walls,  and  that,  to  them,  we  are  indebted  for  the  preser- 
vation of  many  of  the  works  of  the  classic  writers  of  ancient 
times.  Those  great  monuments  of  taste  and  genius,  which 
have  called  forth  the  applause  of  many  generations,  v.e  do  not 
undervalue.  But,  while  the  monastic  institutions  preserved  to 
us  much  of  the  learning  of  ancient  days,  this  will  not  counter- 
balance the  mischiefs  which  they  occasioned. 

At  the  period  of  the  Reforma^tion,  learning  had  ceased  to 
dwell  in  the  solitudes  of  monachism.  The  age  of  darkness  had 
passed  away,  never  more  to  return  ;  the  art  of  printing  had  un- 
locked the  storehouses  of  ancient  literature,  and  sent  abroad 
their  treasures  for  the  good  of  mankind;  and  thus  there  was  not 
left  the  shadow  of  reason  for  longer  endurance  of  these  incum- 
brances on  the  states  of  Europe; — and  pregnant  as  they  palpa- 
bly were  with  many  very  serious  evils,  there  was  the  most  urgent 
necessity  for  their  removal.  This  the  progress  of  knowledge 
effected.  These  institutions,  the  birth  of  an  ignorant  and  super- 
stitious age,  fell  before  the  brightness  of  the  light  of  truth ;  and, 
at  their  dismemberment,  was  unfolded  more  strikingly  than  ever 
had  been  done  before  their  incorrigible  depravity. 

Great  have  been  the  lamentations  respecting  the  alleged  out- 
rages of  the  Reformation ;  that  literature  will  never  recover  from 
the  disaster  vrhich  it  sustained,  by  the  loss  of  the  thousands  of 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY  99 

precious  volumes,  which,  with  the  monasteries  that  contained 
them,  were,  by  the  barbarous  fury  of  the  Reformers,  consigned 
to  destruction,  and  that  the  demolition — occasioned  by  the  Re- 
formation— of  the  splendid  edifices  appropriated  to  monachism, 
inliicted  a  misfortune  on  the  fine  arts  which  is  absolutely  irre- 
trievable. These  stately  fabrics,  it  is  said,  the  illustrious  pro- 
duct of  immense  labour  and  expence — on  which  all  the  taste  and 
genius  of  the  world  were  lavished,  and  which  seemed  destined 
to  perpetuate  through  all  time  the  triumphs  of  art,  are  now  in 
ruins  ;  and  the  superb  arches,  the  lofty  columns,  the  mouldering 
walls,  of  these  once  glorious  structures — the  melancholy  remains 
of  such  a  magnificent  creation  of  art  and  genius — present  to  the 
eye  of  the  scientific  observer  a  scene  of  devastation,  for  which 
all  the  benefits  of  the  Reformation  will  never  atone! 

Now,  much  of  this  regret,  is  groundless  ;  and  with  it  we  can- 
not sympathise.  That  the  monastic  libraries,  at  the  time  of  the 
Reformation,  w^ere  furnished  v/ith  many — or,  indeed,  with  any 
very  valuable  works,  is  a  mere  unwarranted  assumption.  For 
more  than  half  a  century  had  the  press  been  in  vigorous  opera- 
tion, and,  during  that  period,  all  in  literature  that  was  really 
valuable  had  been  drawn  from  obscurity ;  nor,  distinguished  as 
the  Reformers  were  for  their  regard  to  learning,  and,  in  several 
very  splendid  instances,  for  their  literary  acquirements  above  all 
their  contemporaries,  is  there  the  smallest  ground  to  doubt,  that, 
if  any  of  these  literary  monuments  remained,  they  would  have 
been  the  objects  of  their  search  and  careful  preservation.  We 
have  positive  information  respecting  the  state  of  some  of  the 
monastic  libraries,  and  this  may,  in  the  absence  of  contrary 
evidence,  be  regarded  as  a  specimen  of  the  condition  of  the  rest. 
In  the  recently  pubhshed  life  of  Knox,  the  Scottish  Reformer, 
we  have  an  enumeration  of  the  contents  of  several  of  these  pre- 
tended receptacles  of  learning,  despicable  in  the  extreme.  Le- 
gends of  saints,  pastorales,  graduales,  missals,  breviaries,  and 
other  writings  of  a  similar  description,  were  the  precious  stores^ 
for  destroying  which,  the  Reformation  has  been  branded  wirli 
f^pithcts  of  the  most  odious  kind.     7. 


100  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

Popery  is  a  religion  of  pageantry  and  pomp.  It  aims,'by  llie 
splendor  of  its  ceremonies,  to  dazzle  the  intellectual  eye  of  it- 
votaries,  and  thus  to  shroud  from  their  observation  its  intrinsic 
deformity :  and  in  the  days  of  its  glory,  when  princes,  and  kings, 
and  emperors,  were  numbered  among  its  servants,  and  all  the 
wealth  of  the  world  was  ready  to  be  offered  at  its  shrine,  it  was 
wont  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  art  and  genius,  and  to  rear  for 
celebration  sumptuous  edifices,  embellished  with  all  the  orna- 
ments of  the  chisel  and  the  pencil,  establishing.thereby  the  more 
firmly  its  usurped  dominion.  This  the  Reformation,  wheresoever 
it  has  obtained,  has  put  an  end  to,  and  it  was  attended  with  the 
demolition,  in  several  countries,  of  the  fabrics  appropriated  to 
monachism, — many  of  which,  architecture,  painting,  and  sculp- 
ture, had  combined  to  render  monuments  of  grandeur  and  of 
taste.  The  promotion  of  the  fine  arts  is  our  most  ardent  wish, 
but  never  do  we  desire  to  see  them  promoted  at  the  expense  of 
what  is  infinitely  more  valuable — the  interests  of  liberty  and 
morality.  What  were  the  monastic  edifices,  but  so  many  tro- 
phies reared  proudly  to  celebrate  the  triumphs  of  spiritual  des- 
potism over  mankind?  And,  although  it  is  true  that  the  system 
might  have  been  abolished,  while  its  fabrics  were  spared,  who 
will  say  that,  emancipated  as  the  people  were,  most  suddenly 
and  unexpectedly,  from  a  tyranny  which,  for  many  ages,  had 
trampled  on  all  that  was  most  dear  to  them  in  the  world,  it  was 
to  be  expected  that  they  would  exercise  much  discrimination  in 
manifesting  their  resentment  against  the  authors  of  their  wrongs  ; 
or  that  they  would  extend  a  protecting  arm  to  edifices  which 
ihey  could  not  but  regard  as  the  strongholds  of  the  power  by 
which  they  had  been  oppressed?  It  is  not  in  human  nature  to 
act  in  this  manner:  and,  therefore,  far  from  censuring  the  demo- 
lition of  these  edifices — it  was  the  effervescence  of  a  noble  spi- 
dt,  indignant  at  having  been  so  long  deluded  and  oppressed, 
rude — in  the  manner  of  its  operation,  but  indicating  the  return 
of  health  and  vigour  to  the  public  mind. 

Besides,  "  the  destruction  of  these  monuments  was  a  piece  of 
good  policy,  which  contributed  materially  to  the  overthrow  of 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  101 

tlie  Roman  religion,  and  the  prevention  of  its  re-cstablishment. 
It  Avas  chiefly  by  the  magnificence  of  its  temples,  and  the  splen- 
did apparatus  of  its  worship,  that  the  Popish  Church  fascinated 
the  senses  and  imaginations  of  the  people.  A  more  successful 
method  of  attacking  it,  therefore,  could  not  be  adopted  than  the 
demolition  of  what  thus  contributed  so  much  to  uphold  and  ex- 
tend its  influence.  There  is  more  wisdom  than  many  seem  to 
perceive  in  the  maxim  which  Knox  is  said  to  have  inculcated, 
"  that  the  best  way  to  keep  the  roohs  from  returning,  was  to  pull 
down  their  nests'^  In  demolishing,  or  rendering  uninhabitable 
all  those  buildings  which  had  served  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
ancient  superstition,  except  what  were  requisite  for  the  Protes- 
tant w^orship,  the  reformers  only  acted  upon  the  principles  of  a 
prudent  general,  who  dismantles  or  razes  the  fortifications  which 
lie  is  unable  to  keep,  and  which  might  afterwards  be  seized,  and 
employed  against  him  by  the  enemy.  Had  they  been  allowed 
to  remain  in  their  former  splendor,  the  Popish  clergy  would  not 
have  ceased  to  indulge  hopes,  and  to  make  efforts,  to  be  restored 
to  them :  occasions  would  have  been  taken  to  tamper  with  the 
credulous,  and  to  inflame  the  minds  of  the  superstitious ;  and 
the  reformers  might  soon  have  found  reason  to  repent  their  iH- 
judged  forbearance." 

"  The  fraternity  of  Glastonbury  Abbey  consited  of  500  estab- 
lished monks,  besides  nearly  as  many  retainers  on  the  Abbey. 
Above  400  children  were  not  only  educated  in  it,  but  entirely 
maintained.  Strangers  from  all  parts  of  Europe  were  liberally 
received,  classed  according  to  their  sex  and  nation,  and  might 
consider  the  hospitable  roof  under  which  they  lodged  as  their 
©wn.  Five  hundred  travellers,  with  their  horses,  might  have 
lodged  at  once  within  its  walls;  while  the  poor,  from  every 
side  of  the  country,  waited  the  ringing  of  the  alms-bell,  when 
they  flocked  in  crowds,  young  and  old,  to  the  gate  of  the  mo- 
nastery, where  they  received,  every  morning,  a  plentiful  provis- 
ion for  themselves  and  their  famihes.  All  this  appears  great  and 
noble.     On  the  other  hand,  when  we  consider  500  persons  bred 

up  in  indolence,  and  lost  to  the  commonwealth ;  when  wc  cpn^ 

9* 


103  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

sider  that  these  houses  were  the  great  nnrseries  of  superstition, 
bigotry,  and  ignorance :  the  stews  of  sloth,  stupidity,  and  intem- 
perance ;  when  we  consider  that  the  education  received  in  them 
had  not  the  least  tincture  of  useful  learning,  good  manners,  or 
true  religion,  but  tended  to  vilify  and  disgrace  the  human  mind  ; 
w^hen  we  consider  that  the  pilgrims  and  strangers  who  resorted 
thither  were  idle  vagabonds,  who  got  nothing  abroad  which  was 
equivalent  to  the  occupations  they  left  at  home ;  and  when  we 
consider,  lastly,  that  indiscriminate  almsgiving  is  not  real  cha- 
rity, but  an  avocation  from  labor  and  industry,  checking  every 
idea  of  exertion,  and  filling  the  mind  with  abject  notions,  we  ac- 
quiesce in  the  fate  of  these  foundations,  and  view  their  ruins, 
with  moral  and  religious  satisfaction." 

But  the  monastic  were  not  the  only  institutions,  by  abolishing 
which  the  Refomation  has  done  important  and  lasting  service  to 
the  resources  and  the  morals  of  the  states  of  Europe ; — the  di- 
minution and,  the  abolition  which  it  effected  of  the  vast  number  of 
■festivals  and  holidays  that  were  formerly  observed,  were  not  the 
least  of  the  advantages  with  which  it  has  been  attended.  "  The 
Sabbath,  considering  it  only  under  a  political  point  of  view,  is 
an  admirable  institution.  It  was  proper  .  to  give  a  stated  day  of 
rest  to  mankind,  that  they  might  have  time  to  recover  them- 
selves, and  to  lift  up  their  eyes  to  heaven ;  to  enjoy  life  with  re- 
flection ;  to  meditate  upon  past  events ;  to  reason  upon  present 
transactions  ;  and,  in  some  measure,  to  form  plans  for  the  fu- 
ture. But  by  multiplying  those  days  of  inactivity,  hath  not  that 
which  was  established  for  the  advantage  of  individuals  and  soci- 
eties, been  converted  into  a  calamity  for  them?  Would  not  a  soil 
which  should  be  ploughed  three  hundred  days  in  the  year,  by 
strong  and  vigorous  animals,  yield  double  the  produce  of  that 
which  should  only  be  worked  one  hundred  and  fifty  days  in  the 
year  ?  What  strange  infatuation  ?  Torrents  of  blood  have  been 
shed,  an  infinite  number  of  times,  to  prevent  the  dismembering 
of  a  territory,  or  to  increase  its  extent;  and  yet  the  powers  en- 
trusted with  the  maintenance  and  happiness  of  empires,  have  pa-> 
tiently  suffered  that  a  priest,  sometimes  even  a  foreign  priest 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  103 

sliould  invade  successively  one  third  of  this  territory,  by  the 
proportional  diminution  of  labor,  which  alone  could  fertilize  it  ? 
This  inconceivable  disorder  has  ceased  in  several  states ;  but  it 
continues  in  the  south  of  Europe,  and  is  one  of  the  greatest  ob- 
stacles to  the  increase  of  all  subsistence,  and  of  its  population. 

Much  as  the  number  of  these  festivals  has  been  abridged,  even 
in  Popish  countries,  in  consequence  of  the  Reformation,  it  is  still 
very  considerable,  and  while,  by  the  suspension  of  labor  that 
takes  place  on  those  days  among  all  persons  engaged  in  trade, 
and  manufactures,  and  agriculture,  there  is  injury  done  to  the 
national  wealth  of  no  small  magnitude ;  the  voluptuousness  and 
riot  that  characterize  their  observance,  do  incredible  injury  to 
the  national  morality.  8.  Now,  if  this  is  the  case  even  in  our  own 
age, — if  the  influence  of  these  holidays  is  so  pernicious  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  when  their  number  has  been  so  much  dimin- 
ished, and  their  power  so  much  repressed,  what  must  have  been 
the  state  of  matters  anterior  to  the  Reformation,  when  their  num- 
ber was  vastly  greater,  and  when  their  baleful  effects  were  ex- 
perienced in  every  sphere  of  life,  and  in  every  department  of  hu- 
man society  ?  The  saints,  to  whose  memories  certain  days  had 
been  appropriated,  had  multiplied  so  exceedingly  that  their  com- 
memoration occupied  a  great  portion  of  the  year.  "  The  Chris- 
tian Martyrology  became  as  voluminous  as  the  Pagan  mytholo- 
gy. In  the  time  of  Eusebius,  the  saintly  names  to  be  commemo- 
rated, already  amounted  to  more  than  live  thousand  for  ever}^ 
day  of  the  year  !  No  wonder  that  those  who  attempted  to  com- 
pile the  lives  and  acts  of  the  saints,  in  later  times,  should  have 
found  it  such  a  long  and  laborious  task  as  would  require  the 
space  of  several  years  to  accomplish  it.  The  collection  begun 
last  century  amounted  to  fourteen  volumes  folio  ;  only  the  saints 
of  the  first  four  months  of  the  year!  To  shorten  a  little  the  la- 
bor, and  to  abridge  the  ceremonial  of  commemoration,  they  hit 
upon  the  device  of  associating  a  number  of  them  into  fellowship, 
and  making  one  day  serve  for  several  of  them,  so  that,  on  some 
busy  days,  Papists  could  pay  their  compliments  to  thousands  at 
once,  whereby  they  were  canonically  exempted  from  the  drudge- 


104  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

ly  of  dancing  daily  attendance  upon  them,  being  quit  of  them 
till  that  day  twelvemonths.  Thus,  on  Innocents'  day,  they  com- 
memorated the  Babes  of  Bethlehem,  an  indefinite  number ;  on 
the  9th  of  March,  the  Forty  Martyrs  of  Sebastes  ;  another  was 
consecrated  to  Ursula,  and  her  eleven  thousand  virgins  ;  on  ano- 
ther they  discharged  their  homage  to  myriads  of  the  heavenly 
host,  whose  number,  at  least,  amounts  to  thousands  of  thou- 
sands, and  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  which  is  the  work 
of  September  29th, — the  festival  of  Michael,  and  all  the  angels, 
whose  names,  virtues,  and  services,  taken  one  by  one,  it  would 
have  been  rather  difficult  to  record  particularly.  A  similar  uni- 
versal commemoration  they  were  obliged  to  appoint  for  the  hu- 
man saints.  Lest  any  of  them  should  have  been  forgotten  and 
overlooked  in  the  crowd,  the  1st  of  November  was  consecrated 
to  perpetuity,  in  honor  of  all  the  saints.  But  notwithstanding 
this  commodious  and  expeditious  way  they  had  learned  of  paying 
the  immense  accumulating  debts  which  they  acknowledged  to  be 
due,  there  still  remained  abundance  of  particular  accounts  to 
clear,  on  particular  marked  days,  to  give  sufficient  employment 
both  to  priests  and  laity,  if  they  proposed  to  solemnize  the 
whole  round  of  feasts,  whether  double,  semi-double,  or  simple, 
general,  national,  provincial,  or  local,  with  that  degree  of  strict- 
ness which  they  pretended  was  necessary.  So  mad  did  they 
become  on  their  superstition,  as  not  onlv  to  dedicate  holidays  to 
God,  to  Christ,  to  angels,  to  the  virgin,  to  the  apostles  and  saints, 
real  or  supposed,  but  also  to  inanimate  objects,  or  particular  acts, 
events  or  circumstances  ;  to  the  dedication  of  churches,  anniver- 
saries of  consecration  of  bishops,  celebration  of  councils,  and 
even  to  crosses,  spears  and  nails,  chains,  clothes,  and  beads."  9. 
The  whole  multitude  of  these  holidays,  indeed,  was  not  at- 
tended with  the  entire  suspension  of  labor  and  business,  else  the 
frame  of  government  and  of  society  must  have  been  dissolved. 
Nevertheless,  the  number  on  which  this  was  actually  the  case, 
was  far  from  being  small.  During  ninety-eight  days  in  the  year, 
the  number  of  those  festivals  which  are  called  double,  and  which 
arcappointed  to  be  celebrated  with  the  greatest  solemnity,  secu- 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  105 

lar  employments  were  prohibited,  and  an  interdict  was  laid  on 
the  whole  worldly  business  of  society,  Abandoning  not  merely 
the  high-toned  purity  of  Christian  morals,  but  even  the  ordinary 
decorum  which  reason  dictates  as  the  becoming  characteristic  of 
human  conduct,  the  people  marked  the  celebration  of  these  sacred 
days  with  every  feature  of  profligate  dissipation.  It  seemed,  in- 
deed, as  if  mankind  had  retrogaded  to  the  times  and  scenes  of 
antiquity  ;  or,  as  if  the  festivals  of  the  heathen  gods,  with  all 
the  circumstances  of  debauchery  that  attended  them,  had  been 
transferred  to  Christian  hands,  and  had  now  obtained  among 
those  who  were  called  Christian  people!  "Alas,  for  grief!  says 
Cyril  of  Alexandria,  very  many  Christians  imitate  this  madness 
and  intemperance  of  the  Jews,  who,  upon  holidays  and  solemn 
festivals,  giving  themselves  over  to  scandalous  plays,  to  drunk- 
enness, to  dancing,  or  other  vanities  of  the  world,  when  they 
ought  to  serve  God  more  diligently,  to  frequent  the  churches 
more  earnestly,  to  be  instant  in  prayers,  and  engaged  in  eccle- 
siastical duties,  do  then  most  of  all  provoke  God  with  their 
most  dissolute  manners.  Is  this,  O  Christians !  to  celebrate  a 
holiday, — to  pamper  the  belly,  and  to  let  loose  the  reins  to  un- 
lawful pleasures?  If  work  be  prohibited  on  holidays,  which  must 
be  used  for  the  necessary  sustenance  of  life,  are  not  those  things 
then  much  more  forbidden,  which  cannot  be  committed  without 
sin,  and  great  offence  to  God  ?  On  days  that  are  allowed  for  servile 
work,  every  one  is  intent  upon  his  own  business,  and  he  abstains 
from  drunkenness,  pastimes,  and  vanities  ;  but,  on  holidays,  men 
every  where  run  to  the  ale-house,  to  plays,  to  interludes,  and 
dances,  to  the  derision  of  God's  name,  and  the  perversion  of 
his  day." 

The  evils  of  wdiich,  even  at  this  early  period,  the  festivals 
were  productive,  induced  the  African  Council,  at  which  Augus- 
tine was  present,  to  enact  the  two  following  canons.  1.  That 
those  feasts  which  were  used  in  many  places  contrary  to  divine 
precepts,  and  which  are  drawn  from  the  errors  of  the  Gentiles, 
should  be  prohibited,  and  excluded  from  cities  and  villages,  espe- 
ciallv,  since  in  some  cities,  men  fear  not  to  keep  them,  even  on 


m  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

the  birth-days  of  the  martyrs,  and  that  in  the  very  churches :  on 
which  days,  also  shameful  to  speak,  they  use  most  wicked  dances 
through  the  villages  and  streets,  so  that  the  matronal  honor  and 
the  modesty  of  innumerable  women  is  assaulted  by  petulant  and 
lascivious  injuries,  so  ihat  even  access  to  the  holy  exercises  of 
religion  is  almost  interrupted  and  discontinued.  2.  That  the  spec- 
tacles of  the  theatres,  and  other  plays,  should  be  wholly  remov 
ed  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  other  celebrated  Christian  festivals, 
especially  beqause,  on  the  Easter  holidays,  people  went  more  to 
the  circus,  or  theatre,  than  to  the  church,  laying  aside  all  their 
holiday  devotion,  when  these  spectacles  come  in  their  way  :  Nei- 
ther ought  any  Christian  to  attend  them." 

In  succeeding  ages,  the  abuses  which  were  connected  with  the 
observance  of  holidays  became  still  more  flagrant.  In  the  mid- 
dle of  the  eighth  century,  a  synod  in  France  enacted,  that  every 
bishop  in  his  parish  shall  take  care  that  the  people  of  God  make 
no  Pagan  feasts  or  interludes,  but  that  they  reject  all  the  filthy 
al)ominations  of  the  Gentiles,  such  as  the  profane  offerings  for 
the  dead,  fortune-tellings,  divinations,  and  immolated  sacrifices, 
which  foolish  men  make  near  to  the  churches,  after  the  Pagan 
manner,  in  the  name  of  holy  martyrs  and  confessors,  provoking 
God  and  his  saints  to  wrath  and  vengeance :  as  also,  that  they 
diligently  inhibit  those  sacrilegious  fires,  which  they  call  nedfri, 
bonfires,  and  all  other  observances  of  the  Pagans  whatever. 
In  the  days  of  Henry  I.  "  it  was  the  custom  of  the  people  of 
England  to  spend  their  Christmas  in  plays,  masquerades,  and 
magnificent  and  costly  spectacles,  and  to  addict  themselves  to 
pleasures,  dancing,  dicing,  and  various  other  games."  At  the 
time  of  the  meeting  of  the  Council  of  Constance,  the  abuses 
resulting  from  the  festivals  were  particularly  complained  of  by 
some  of  the  leading  Romans,  and  the  reformation  of  them  was 
loudly  demanded.  To  such  a  height  of  impiety,  indeed,  had 
many  even  of  the  clergy  proceeded,  that  they  used  to  spend  the 
whole  night  of  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord,  and  great  part  of  the 
day,  in  gaming ;  "  and  they  played,  in  the  name  of  Jesu«i 
Christ,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Virgin." 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  lot 

A  most  melancholy  representation  of  the  wretched  state  ol 
Christendom  in  those  times,  'has  been  left  on  record  by  Nicho- 
las Clemangis.  "  Every  one,  may  perceive  with  how  little  de- 
votion the  Christian  people  now  celebrate  these  holidays.  Some 
satisfy  themselves  with  entering  into  the  church,  and  taking 
there  a  little  consecrated  water,  or  falling  down  on  their  knees 
for  a  moment,  saluting  the  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  or  of  any 
saint,  or  adoring  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  during  the  elevation. 
Some  go  to  their  houses  in  the  country,  others  go  about  their 
secular  business  :  great  numbers  resort  to  fairs,  which  now  arc 
never  kept  in  a  public  and  solemn  manner,  but  on  tlie  most  emi- 
nent festivals.  Some  are  delighted  with  stage-actors,  and  fre- 
quent the  theatres  ;  tennis-ball  employs  some,  and  dice  very 
many.  Festivals  are  celebrated  by  the  richer  sort  with  great 
pomp  of  appard,  and  magnificent  banquets ;  but  the  conscience 
lies  neglected  and  unpurged.  As  to  the  exterior,  ail  is  fair  and 
garnished — the  houses  and  floors  are  cleaned,  green  boughs  arc 
placed  at  the  door,  the  ground  is  strewed  v/ith  lierbs  and  flow- 
ers ;  but  the  inward  man  partakes  not  in  the  exultation,  but 
miserably  pines  away  in  its  filthiness.  With  respect  to  the  pro- 
fane vulgar,  as  they  may  fitly  be  called,  holidays  are  not  cele- 
brated by  them  in  the  temples,  nor  in  their  dwellings,  but  in 
taverns  and  alehouses.  They  resort  hither  almost  at  sun-rising, 
and  oftentimes  they  abide  there  until  midnight.  They  swear, 
forswear,  blaspheme  God,  and  curse  ail  his  saints :  they  roar, 
they  wrestle,  they  wrangle,  they  sing,  they  rage,  they  shfiek, 
they  make  a  tumult,  and  seem  to  be  as  mad  as  bedlamites.  They 
strive  who  shall  overcome  one  another  in  drinking  :  they  drink 
merrily  to  one  another,  and  eagerly  excite  one  another  to  drink ; 
and  wlien  they  have  glutted  themselves  sufhciently,  then  they 
rise  up  to  play.  How  shall  I  relate  the  vanities  of  public  plays 
and  spectacles  on  these  days  ?  The  cross-ways  resound  with 
dances,  and  the  villages  and  streets,  and  indeed  the  whole  city, 
wdth  the  voices  of  singers,  the  shouts  and  clamors  of  dancers?, 
the  confused  sound  of  the  harp,  tabret,  and  all  other  musical 
harmonics.     Their  minds  being;  moved  bv  the  blandishments  of 


108  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

laughter,  the  glances  of  the  eye,  and  the  engaging  sweetness  of 
song  and  music,  become  effeminate,  wax  vain,  and  warm  into 
luxury  and  incontinence.  There  youth  hath  first  discarded  its 
chastity.  The  young  men  and  children  are  corrupted,  and  in- 
fected with  an  impure  contagion.  They  continually  provoke 
one  another  to  lewdness,  and  he  that  will  not  fellow  the  rest  to 
destruction,  is  accounted  a  wretch,  a  sluggard,  a  good-for-noth- 
ing. What  heathen  acquainted  with  these  sacrilegious  festivals, 
would  not  believe  that  the  floralia  of  Venus,  or  the  feasts  of 
Bacchus,  were  observed,  rather  than  any  religious  solemni- 
ties, when  he  should  there  behold  such  uncleanness  as  w^as 
wont  to  be  committed  on  the  festivals  of  these  idols?  Neither 
doth  the  filthy  obscenity  only  of  Bacchus  and  Venus  seem  to  be 
exercised  there,  but  likewise  of  Mars  and  Bellona  too.  For  it  is 
now  a  common  opinion,  that  it  is  an  unseemly  holiday,  which  is 
not  distinguished  with  fighting  and  eliusion  of  blood." 

The  Popish  festivals  were  injurious,  in  an  extreme  degree  to 
the  best  interests  of  society  ;  they  diminished  national  resources  ; 
and,  which  was  the  deadliest  injury  of  all,  opened  wide  the  flood- 
gates of  wickedness,  to  the  sweeping  away,  in  numberless  in- 
stances, of  the  very  semblance  of  morality  from  among  its  peo- 
ple. Who  sees  not,  that,  in  respect  of  this  matter,  the  Refor- 
mation has  been  an  unspeakable  blessing  to  mankind  ?  For, 
wheresoever  it  has  obtained,  it  has  abolished  these  pernicious 
institutions,  and  has  rid  the  states  of  the  many  abominations 
with  which  they  were  attended ;  and  even  in  Popish  lands,  where 
it  has  scarcely  obtained  toleration,  much  less  an  establishment, 
its  auspicious  influence  has  been  so  far  experienced,  that  the 
princes  have  ventured  to  prescribe  limits  to  those  holiday  obser- 
vances, which,  fostering  idleness,  and  every  form  of  dissipation, 
they  perceived  to  be  utterly  hostile  to  the  prosperity  of  their  do- 
minions. 

Throughout  the  Protestant,  and,  to  a  considerable  extent,  also 
in  the  Papal  world,  the  Reformation  has  imposed  a  powerful  re- 
straint on  the  perpetration  of  crime.  W^e  do  not  refer  so  much 
to  the  potent  influence  which  it  has  exerted  in  terminating  the. 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  100 

reign  of  ignorance,  and  diffusing  among  mankind  useful  know- 
ledge ;  although  to  a  reflecting  mind,  aware  that  ignorance  is  the 
parent  of  crime,  and  that  previoua  to  the  Reformation,  not  only 
did  knowledge  not  exist,  but  the  very  persons  who  were  the  pro- 
fessed instructors  of  others,  were  themselves  sunk  into  a  state  oj' 
deplorable  ignorance,  of  which,  in  this  intellectual  day,  we  can 
form  no  adequate  conception — it  will  appear  most  manifest,  that; 
in  promoting  knowledge  among  mankind,  the  Reformation  oper- 
ated powerfully  in  the  prevention  of  crime.  But  we  particularly 
refer  to  the  removal,  effected  by  the  Reformation,  of  some  pow- 
erful incentives  to  crime,  to  which  pontifical  avarice  had  given 
existence,  and  which  it  labored  to  perpetuate.  It  forms  a  grave 
and  awful  charge  against  the  Papal  system,  that,  by  inducing 
and  cherishing  ignorance,  it  promoted  vice ;  b\it  the  grievousness 
of  its  offending  in  this  matter  receives  intense  aggravation  from 
the  appalling  fact,  that  it  gave  to  wickedness  and  vice  positive 
encouragement,  by  indulgences  and  the  right  of  sanctuary. 

Were  it  not  authenticated  it  could  not  be  credited,  that  men, 
assuming  to  themselves  the  name  of  Head  of  tlie  Holy  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  professing,  as  his  Vicegerents,  to  be  the 
guardians  of  every  thing  that  is  sacred  and  pure,  should  have 
so  far  forgotten  the  character  to  which  they  pretended,  and 
should  have  acted  in  such  utter  contradiction  to  the  faith  which 
ihey  professed  to  venerate  and  defend,  as  to  teach  the  world  that 
heaven  had  empowered  them  to  pardon  sin,  and  that  the  remis- 
sion of  all  iniquity  might  be  bought  with  money. 

Among  the  bishops,  and  other  inferior  clergy  of  Rome,  the 
scandalous  trafiic  in  indulgences  was  first  begun.  Feeling  the 
want  of  money  for  their  own  private  pleasures,  or  for  the  exigen- 
cies of  their  ecclesiastical  government,  they  granted  the  power 
of  purchasing  the  remission  of  the  penalties  imposed  upon  trans- 
gressors, by  the  payment  of  a  sum  of  money.  They  published 
indulgences  which  became  an  inexhaustible  source  of  opulence, 
and  enabled  them  to  form  and  execute  the  most  difiicult  schemes 
for  the  enlargement  of  their  authority,  and  to  erect  a  miUtitud*^ 

10 


110  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

of  sacred  edifices,  which  greatly  augmented  the  external  pomp 
and  splendor  of  the  church.  It  was  not  long,  however,  that  the 
inferior  clergy  were  permitted  to  monopolize  this  profitable  traf- 
fic. The  Pontiffs  soon  cast  towards  it  a  wishful  eye,  as  Ahab 
desired  the  vineyard  of  Naboth,  and  the  power  of  the  prelates 
to  remit  penalties  to  transgressors,  was  accordingly  taken  away 
and  assumed  entirely  by  the  Court  of  Rome.  Audaciously  usurp- 
ing the  authority  of  the  Most  High,  the  Pontiffs  were*not  satis- 
fied with  selling  the  relaxation  of  the  rigors  of  canonical  peni- 
tence, but,  in  the  hope  of  still  more  largely  increasing  their 
wealth,  impiously  pretended  to  abolish  even  the  punishments 
which  are  reserved  for  sinners  in  a  future  state.  In  the  eleventh 
century,  and  to  encourage  the  princes  and  people  of  Europe  to 
engage  in  the  enterprize  of  recovering  Jerusalem,  this  blasphe- 
mous prerogative  was  first  exercised.  It  was  afterwards  extended 
to  the  crusades  which  were  undertaken  for  the  destruction  of  here- 
tics in  various  parts  of  Europe ;  and,  in  process  of  time,  the  bene- 
fit of  indulgences  was  given  to  all  persons  who  devoted  their 
substance  to  accomplish  any  pious  work  recommended  by  the 
Pope.  It  was  not  deemed  enough  to  assume  the  power  of  granting 
the  remission  of  all  the  sins  of  which  the  individual  concerned" 
had  been  or  might  be  guilty,  but  a  third  part  of  sins  besides  was 
remitted;  and  the  Pope  has  given  eighteen  thousand  years  of 
pardon,  which,  after  providing  for  his  own  necessities,  might 
he  disposed  of  by  the  pardoned  person  for  the  advantage  of  others. 
At  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  the  e  ffrontry  displayed  by 
the  agents  of  the  Papal  Court,  in  imposing  on  the  credulity  of 
mankind  by  the  sale  of  indulgences,  had  arrived  at  a  most  extra- 
ordinary height.  The  Christian  world  swarmed  with  these  ene- 
mies to  its  purity  and  peace,  unfolding  their  nefarious  wares  in 
every  town  and  village,  and  actually  exposing  them  for  sale  to 
the  highest  bidder.  About  the  time  when  Tetzel  was  prosecuting 
the  traflic  of  indulgences  in  Germany,  another  dealer  in  this  spi- 
ritual merchandise,  Bernardino  Sampson,  an  Italian  Monk,  was 
carrying  it  on  with  vigour  in  Switzerland.  This  man  openly  car- 
ried on  his  trade  in  the  inns,  churche;?,  and  public  squares.  Some 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY.  Hi 

of  his  bulls,  written  on  common  paper  he  sold  for  threepence  • 
others,  on  parchment^  for  a  crown;  while  others  were  much 
more  expensive.  Some  of  them  authorised  the  purchaser  to  choose 
his  own  confessor,  who  acquired,  ipso  facto,  tlie  power  to  relieve 
him  from  any  vow,  or  even  to  absolve  him  from  perjury.  "  If 
any  man  purchase  letters  of  indulgence,  his  soul  may  rest  secure 
with  respect  to  salvation.  The  souls  confined  in  purgatory,  for 
whose  redemption  indulgences  are  purchased,  as  soon  as  the 
money  tinkles  in  the  chest,  instantly  escape  from  that  place  ol 
torment,  and  ascend  to  heaven.  The  efficacy  of  indulgences,  in- 
deed, is  so  great,  that  the  most  heinous  sins  are  expiated  and  re- 
mitted by  them,  and  the  person  so  freed  both  from  punishment 
and  guilt.  For  twelve  pence  you  may  redeem  the  soul  of  your 
father  out  of  purgatory."  This  audacious  monastic  carried  from 
Switzerland,  as  his  own  share  of  the  profits,  a  sum  equal  to  nine 
millions  of  dollars,  besides  a  quantity  of  gold  and  silver  plate. 

All  this  gave  most  direct  and  positive  encouragement  to  the 
perpetration  of  crime.  The  fear  of  future  punishment — the 
dread  of  that  unknown  hereafter,  in  which  men  will  be  reward- 
ed according  to  their  works — a  dread  with  which  man  in  his 
rudest  state  is  conversant,  and  which  no  sophistry  can  ever  en- 
tirely banish  away  from  him — is  one  of  those  powerful  restraint.- 
by  which,  in  the  management  of  his  righteous  government,  God 
lias  chosen  to  repress  the  wickedness  of  mankind.  WithdraAv 
this  fear  from  the  minds  of  men — set  them  loose  from  all  appre- 
liension  of  Heaven's  righteous  and  awful  judgment  in  the  world 
to  come,  and  you  cast  the  reins  on  the  neck  of  passion  and  oi 
lust,  and  open  the  way  to  the  most  atrocious  impiety.  This  was 
done — as  far  as  it  was  possible,  by  the  Papal  institution.  The 
future  judgment  was  not  absolutely  denied — the  state  of  ap- 
proaching retribution  still  remained  a  doctrine  in  the  creed — 
but,  by  the  assurance,  that  a  paltry  sum  of  money  would  savf 
from  the  woe,  and  introduce  into  the  felicity  of  the  coming  Avorld, 
that  doctrine  was  rendered  a  mere  non-entity.  Men  might  live 
according  to  all  the  inclinations  of  their  depraved  hearts,  undis- 
mayed by  the  thought  of  futurity,  and  certain  that,  provided  they 


113  EFFECT  OP  THE  REFORMATION 

were  liberal  to  the  church,  the  most  dissipated  life  would  not  ex- 
clude them  from  celestial  bliss. 

In  combination  with  this  impious  doctrine  the  right  of  sane- 
tuary  operated  as  a  very  powerful  incentive  to  the  perpetration 
of  crime.  The  superstition  of  the  Pagans  made  the  temples  and 
altars  of  the  gods,  and  the  tombs  and  statues  of  heroes,  asylums 
for  criminals ;  and,  in  imJtation  of  their  example.  Popery  de- 
voted to  the  same  purpose,  churches,  altars,  crosses,  and  conse- 
crated ground. 

This  institution  was  not  originally  designed  to  patronize 
wickedness,  or  to  shield  the  guilty,  but  to  be  a  refuge  for  the  in- 
nocent, the  injured,  the  oppressed  ;and,  -in  doubtful  cases,  to  give 
men  protection  till  they  might  obtain  a  fair  and  equitable  hearing. 
and  till  their  guilt  or  innocence  might  be  clearly  ascertained. 
But  the  privilege  of  sanctuary  was  soon  perverted  from  its  origi- 
nal design.  Those  places  became  asylums  for  the  positive  protec- 
tion of  villany.  Ifany  criminal,  how  atrocious  soever,  betook  him- 
self to  consecrated  ground  his  life  was  safe.  Justice  was  set  at  de- 
fiance, the  laws  were  trampled  on,  the  civil  power  was  despised^ 
and  clerical  insolence  screened  from  punishment  the  most  aggra- 
vated crimes.  "  Unthrifts,  riot  and  run  in  debt  upon  the  bold- 
nsse  of  these  places:  yea,  and  rich  men  run  thither  with  poor 
men's  goods  ;  there  they  build,  there  they  spend,  and  bid  their 
creditors  go  whistle  them!  Men's  wives  run  thither  with  their 
husbands'  plate,  and  say  they  dare  not  abide  with  their  husbands 
for  beating.  Thieves  bring  their  stolen  goods  and  live  thereon. 
There  they  devise  new  robberies  nightly;  they  steal  out  and  rob, 
and  reave,  and  kill,  and  come  in  agam,  as  though  these  places 
gave  them  not  only  a  safeguard  for  the  harm  they  had  done,  but 
a  licence  to  do  more." 

Although  this  institution  v/as  the  source  of  a  multitude  ot 
evils — although  it  was  utterly  hostile  to  every  thing  like  nation- 
al order  and  morality,  it  was  guarded  by  the  church — her  power 
was  exerted  on  its  behalf — and  it  was  extremely  perilous  for  the 
secular  authorities,  even  in  the  most  glaring  case,  to  interfere* 


ON  NATIONAL  PRO>SPERITY.  118 

These  baleful  institutions,  which  operated  so  fearfully  in  the 
i^ncouragement  of  immorality,  in  the  Protestant  world,  have  been 
abolished  by  the  Reformation.  Indulgences,  and  sanctuaries  for 
crime  have  been  swept  away,  with  a  thousand  other  abomination^ 
of  Popery.  The  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong  does  not  now 
depend  on  the  pleasure  of  a  weak  and  worthless  mortal;  the 
disgrace  and  the  danger  of  crime  have  been  set  in  their  proper 
light — and  the  laws  of  God  and  of  the  State  have  been  vindicat- 
<d  from  violation,  and  guaj  ded  and  supported  by  every  dictate 
of  reason  and  religion.  Nor  are  these  benefits  of  the  Reformation 
altogether  confined  to  Protestant  lands  ;  they  have  been  experi- 
•niced,  to  a  certain  extent,  also  in  Popish  countries.  It  is  true, 
the  doctrine  of  indulgences  has  never  been  relinquished  by  the 
Papal  See  ;  nay,  has  been  declared  perpetual  by  the  authority  of 
the  last  general  Council,  and  is  even  now  acknowledged  by  tin- 
Roman  Church,  as  one  of  her  unchanging  laws,  and  the  sister 
tloctrine  of  the  right  of  sanctuary  is  still  recognized  by  that 
church ;  and  so  little  are  its  revolting  abominations  at  variance 
with  the  spirit  even  of  modern  Popery,  which  some  would  have 
us  believe  to  be  a  very  different  thing  from  the  ancient  system—^ 
that  only  a  few  years  have  elapsed,  since  the  Pope  appointed 
four  towns  in  Italy,  to  be  asylums  for  assassins !  But  Popish 
countries  have  shared  in  no  small  degree,  in  the  good  which  the 
Reformation  has  conferred  on  mankind,  by  the  abolition  of  these 
institutions.  The  flagrant  abuses  with  which  they  polluted  soci- 
ety, by  the  light  of  the  recovered  Word  of  God,  have  been  ex- 
Jiibited  in  all  their  deformity,  and  since  that  time  have  been  more 
rarely  witnessed.  Another  Tetzel  has  not  disgraced  an  age  since 
that  of  Luther  ;  nor  would  even  Popish  princes — with,  perhaps 
an  exception  or  two — permit  such  violent  encroachments  on  the 
laws  of  their  states,  as  they  were  accustomed  to  witness  with 
degrading  tameness,  in  the  days  of  darkness  and  superstition. 

Whilst  the  Reformation  has  improved  the  morals,  and  promot- 
ed the  prosperity  of  the  states  of  Europe,  its  effect  has  been  emi- 
nently  beneficial   in   reference    to  their  intercourse  mtli  eadi 

W 


il4  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATIOx^^ 

other,  and,  Vv'itli  the  distant  nations  of  the  earth.  So  complete!}' 
had  a  dark  and  intolerant  superstition  subjected  them  to  its  power 
•hat,  in  numberless  instances,  their  dignity,  their  interest,  th^ir 
honor,  all  were  abandoned  in  compliance  with  its  injunctions, 
and  basely  sacrificed  at  its  shrine.  The  mere  remonstrance  of  the 
iiigh-priest  at  Rome  cancelled  the  most  awful  bonds,  and  induc- 
ed his  subjects  to  trample  on  their  most  solemm  obligations.  It 
the  Pope  at  any  time  declared  respecting  treaties  that  had  been 
concluded  between  belligerent  kingdoms,  or  that  had  been  enter- 
ed into  by  friendly  nations  for  their  mutual  good,  that  they  were 
inconsistent  with  the  interests  of  the  church,  his  declaration  was 
sufficient — in  spite  of  all  the  solemnity  of  the  oaths  under  which 
the  parties  had  come — to  induce  their  gross  and  immediate  vio- 
lation. Charlemagne,  at  the  particular  request  of  the  Pope  violat- 
ed most  grossly  his  league  withDesiderius,  king  of  the  Lombards, 
and,  although  allied  to  him  by  marriage,  dispossessed  him  of  all 
his  dominions, — terminatingby  perfidy  the  Lombard  government 
in  Italy.  Henry  II.  of  England  obtained  a  Papal  dispensation  to 
violate  his  father's  will,  which  he  had  solemnly  sworn  to  observe. 
Many  times,  were  the  solemn  treaties  that  took  place  between  the 
Papists  and  the  Protestants  of  France  sacrificed  to  that  infamous 
principle.  In  the  course  of  the  Albigensian  wars — more  than  ten 
treaties,  which  had  been  entered  into,  with  that  brave  and  mag- 
nanimous, but  devoted  and  martyred  people,  were  pertiuiously 
violated.  One  of  the  most  memorable  instances,  of  the  breach 
of  solemn  engagements,  for  the  sake  of  the  church,  is  the  infringe- 
ment of  the  ten  years'  truce,  between  Ladislaus  IV.  king  of  Hun- 
gary, and  the  Turkish  sultan  Amurath.  The  peace  displeased 
the  Pope.  He  sent  his  legate  Julian,  to  induce  the  King  to  vio- 
late it,  and  to  absolve  him  from  the  oath  by  which  it  had  been 
confirmed.  It  was  accordingly  violated  ;  the  war  Avas  renewedr 
and  a  sanguinary  battle  at  Varna  terminated  most  fatally  and  dis- 
gracefully for  Ladislaus.  Amurath,  amid  the  fury  of  the  battle, 
perceiving  the  dreadful  slaughter  of  his  men,  and  that  his  affairs 
were  in  extreme  peril,  plucked  from  his  bosom  the  writing  that 
i:ontained  the  league,   and  holding  it   up  in  his  hand,  with  hi^ 


ON  NATIONAL  PROSPEKi  i  i.  I13 

eyes  at  the  same  time  lifted  to  heaven,  exclaimed—-'  Behold, 
thou  cinicified  Christ !  this  is  the  league  which  Uiy  Christians, 
in  thy  name,  made  \!ith  me»  and  which  they  have,  without  an> 
cause,  violated  ;  if  thou  art  a  God,  as  thei/  say,  and  as  we  dream, 
avenge  the  wrong  now  done  to  thy  name  and  me,  and  show  th} 
power  upon  thy  perjured  people,  who  by  their  deeds,  deny  thee.- 
iheir  God!"  Whether  this  anecdote  be  true  or  false,  the  army 
of  the  Hungarians  was  totally  destroyed,  aud  their  king  slain ; 
the  ruin  of  Hungary,  and  the  rapid  progress  of  the  Ottoman 
arms  in  Europe,  were  the  disastrous  consequences  of  this  per- 
fidious transaction. 

By  the  Reformation,  this  melancholy  state  of  matters  in  the 
Protestant  world,  has  been  terminated.  The  same  power  has 
been  often  claimed  on  the  part  of  the  Pontiffs ;  and  on  the  part 
of  the  Popish  princes,  the  same  degrading  submission  has  been 
often  displayed.  But  wheresoever  the  Reformation  has  been  in- 
troduced and  imbibed,  the  pretended  right  of  the  heads  of  the 
Papal  Church  to  dispense  with  solemn  engagements  has  been 
indignantly  rejected,  and  the  principle  has  been  scorned.  The 
solemnity  of  an  oath  has  been  generally  held  sacred  by  the 
princes  of  Protestant  lands,  and  they  regard  their  own  dignit\ 
and  the  honor  of  their  people  as  concerned  in  its  fulfilment. 

Nor  has  this  auspicious  change  in  their  public  conduct  been 
altogether  confined  to  the  nations  of  Europe;  the  most  distant 
regions  have  been  included  within  the  sphere  of  its  influence. 
During  the  melancholy  period  that  preceded  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, one  half  of  the  world  lived  in  a  state  of  proscription  from 
intercourse  and  friendship  with  each  other.  So  thoroughly  was 
the  spirit  of  the  prevailing  superstition  imbibed  in  those  days 
by  the  people  of  Western  Europe,  that  every  other  part  of  the 
world  was  supposed  to  be  under  the  malediction  of  heaven,  and 
its  inhabitants  regarded  as  an  order  of  inferior  beings.  Friend- 
ship with  such  persons  woidd  have  been  considered  as  degrad- 
ing in  the  extreme,  nor  did  any  intercourse  take  place  with  them- 
except  for  the  purpose  of  enslaving,  and,  by  inquisitions  and 
torture,  and  fire,  and  sword,  reducing  them  under  the  domimt- 


116  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

tion  of  the  Roman  See.  Long  did  these  sentiments  prevail-— 
insulting  as  they  were  to  the  dignity  of  our  common  nature  : 
but,  after  the  light  of  truth  had  visited  and  gladdened  the  world, 
they  fled,  and  gave  place  to  notions  more  consonant  to  reason, 
and  to  the  religion  of  Christ.  The  genuine  spirit  of  that  reli- 
gion was  shown  to  be  utterly  opposed  to  a  system  of  proscrip- 
tion which  sought  to  entail  forever,  the  curse  of  ignorance  and 
degradation.  When  the  Bible — the  grand  repository  of  divine 
truth — was  laid  open  to  the  investigation  of  mankind,  it  was  ea- 
sily perceived  that  Christianity  is  any  thing  but  exclusive  in  its 
nature  ;  that  it  is  not  confined  to  one  sect  or  nation,  or  included 
within  the  precincts  of  any  country :  that  it  extends  its  regards 
to  the  entire  species,  teaches  its  disciples  to  cherish  sentiments 
of  kindness  and  benevolence  towards  all  mankind,  and  seeks  to 
bring  to  the  enjoyment  of  its  inestimable  blessings,  the  people  of 
ever}'  language  and  of  every  clime.  The  narrow  limits  within 
which  bigotry  would  have  confined  the  favorites  of  heaven  were 
overleaped  ;  Christians  began  to  regard  men  as  brethren — the 
children  of  the  same  Father,  and  equally  the  objects  of  his  pa- 
rental care  ;  separating  oceans,  which  before  made  enemies  of 
nations,  began  to  be  traversed  for  their  natural  good;  and 
mighty  schemes  were  projected  for  the  general  welfare.  To 
that  interesting  era  may  be  traced  the  origin  of  those  plans  for 
the  extension  of  knowledge,  and  the  blessings  of  civilized  and 
christisn  life,  among  distant  and  degraded  regions,  which  con- 
stitute  the  brightest  features  in  the  aspect  of  our  times. 


CHAPTER  m. 


EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION  OX  THE  HAPPINESiS' 
OF  SOCIAL.  LIFE. 

True  Christian  virtue  is  not  the  only  dignity  and  liappiness  o5' 
individual  man ;  hut  also  of  man  in  his  social  state.  Destitute  ol 
this  celestial  gift,  man  is  a  weed,  and  a  community  of  such  men 
is  a  garden  of  weeds.  If  society  is  not  virtuous,  it  cannot  be 
liappy  ;  and  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  social  life  bear  an  ex- 
act proportion  to  the  degree  of  virtuous  feeing  by  which  it  is 
pervaded.  It  constitutes  the  glory  of  the  celestial  world,  and 
is  one  great  source  of  its  felicity,  that  it  is  characterized  by  the 
entire  and  everlasting  absence  of  moral  evil ;  and  therefore,  ac- 
cording to  the  approaches  which  are  made  by  human  society  on 
earth  to  the  purity  of  heaven,  it  will  advance  towards  its  dig- 
nity, and  participate  its  happiness. 

Numerous  institutions  existed,  and  were  cherished,  under  the 
Papacy,  which  shed  a  most  baleful  influence  over  the  morals  oi 
both  public  and  private  life  ;  and  in  effecting  their  overthrow  the 
Reformation  has  done  incalculable  good  to  mankind.  But  even 
although  those  institutions  had  not  existed,  the  Popish  system 
of  most  debasing  superstition,  did  naturally  tend  to  incapacitate 
and  inspire  men  with  distaste  for  the  practice  of  social  virtue.  Su- 
perstition is  hostile  to  morality,  and  exactly  in  proportion  to  its 
progress,  does  it  become,  in  a  moral  view,  the  bane  of  society. 
But  the  superstition  which,  in  the  ages  before  Luther,  was  pre- 
valent in  Europe,  was  distinguished  by  every  feature  of  darkness 
and  debasement.  Awfully  was  the  glory  of  our  divine  religion 
obscured  and  trampled  in  the  dust,  when  its  sublime  doctrines 
were  transformed  into  idle  and  contemptible  theories  ;  its  simple 
but  majestic  ritual  was  exchanged  for  an  immense  and  burden- 
some train  of  puerile  and  ridiculous  observances  ;  and  its  pure 
and  virtuous  injuctions  to  rescue  man  from  the  bondage  of  vice, 
and  to  fit  him  for  the  employments  of  the  celestial  state,  were- 


il8  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

supplanted  by  human  commandments,  whose  whole  tendency 
was  to  enfeeble  the  mind,  and  to  deprave  the  heart!  In  what  a 
fearful  state  of  degradation  and  delusion  must  the  human  soul 
liaA^e  been,  when  loading  the  body  with  iron  chains,  continuing 
days  and  nights  M'ithout  eating,  refraining  from  the  use  of  speech, 
remaining  motionless  like  statues,  and  standing  on  lofty  pillars 
for  years  together,  were  adopted  as  methods  of  pleasing  God  ! 
The  mind,  by  devoting  its  whole  regard  to  such  senseless  and 
degrading  superstitions  must  have  become  enfeebled  and  con- 
tracted in  all  its  energies,  and  utterly  disqualified  for  the  mo- 
mentous duties  of  social  life. 

In  addition  to  the  baneful  tendency  of  this,  superstition,  con- 
sider the  extreme  corruption  of  domestic  manners  that  prevailed 
among  the  various  orders  of  the  pontifical  clergy,  and  the  influ- 
ence which  their  example  could  not  but  exert  on  the  ignorant 
multitude,  and  we  shall  not  be  surprissd  at  the  absence,  in  those 
ages,  of  all  that  is  ennobling  to  thehuman  character,  and  of  all 
that  is  excellent  and  charming  in  human  society.  "  For  some 
years,  says  Bellarmine,  before  the  Lutheran  and  Calvinistic 
docttines  were  published,  there  was  not,  as  contemporary  au- 
thors testify,  any  severity  in  ecclesiastical  judicatories,  any  dis- 
cipline  with  regard  to  morals,  any  knowledge  of  sacred  litera- 
ture, any  reverence  for  divine  things  ;  there  was  not  almost  any 
religion  remaining.  The  modern  and  unhappy  clergy,  addict 
themselves  to  temporal  things  ;  being  destitute  of  divine  light, 
they  love  themselves,  neglect  the  love  of  God  and  their  neigh- 
bor :  they  are  worse  than  worldly  men,  whom  they  destroy  to- 
gether with  themselves.  They  are  addicted  to  pleasures  and  in- 
famous practices,  and  neglect  the  salvation  of  the  souls  of 
Christ's  faithful  people.  By  the  lives  of  such  wicked  clergymen, 
the  seculars  come  to  be  disobedient  and  irreverent  tov.-^ards  the 
church;  they  are  seduced  by  blind  guides,  who,  O  shame!  are 
ignorant,  proud,  covetous,  hypocrites,  simoniacal,  luxurious,  en- 
vious, slow  to  good  works,  and  prone  to  evil.  Where  at  this 
day  can  be  found  that  continence  in  gestures,  diet,  apparel,  and 
••oiiduct,  that  becomes  the  clergy?  At  banquets,  taverns,  play?. 


ON  SOCIAL  LIFE.  110 

and  theatres,  they  arc  more  frequently  found  than  in  places  de- 
dicated to  God.  How  infinitely  pernicious,  the  scurrility,  theigno- 
rance,  the  fornication,  the  simony,  and  other  crimes  are,  witli 
which  a'most  the  whole  clergy  are  infected,  there  is  no  man  wli(» 
can  entertain  a  doubt.' 

It  is  not  wonderful,  that  all  this  contempt  of  morality  in  it^ 
guardians,  and  teachers,  should  hav  e  induced  utter  disregard  for 
h  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  Nicholas  Clemangis,  himself 
an  archdeacon  of  Rome,  declares,  "  That  wicked  persons  did  so 
much  abound  in  all  professions  of  men,  that  scarcely  one  among 
a  thousand  was  to  be  found,  who  sincerely  lived  answerable  to 
his  profession  ;  or,  if  there  was  any  one  that  was  honest,  chaste 
temperate,  and  did  not  follow  this  licentious  kind  of  life,  he  v/as, 
made  a  laughing  stock  to  others,  and  was  forthwith  called  cither 
an  insolent  and  singular  madman,  or  a  hypocrite." 

These  are  evils  for  which  the  progress  of  literature  and  science, 
if  itwete  possible,  that,  in  such  a  state  of  things,  literature  and 
science  could  have  made  progress,  would  have  furnished  no  reme- 
dy. The  whole  past  experience  of  man  compels  us  to  believe  and 
to  affirm,  that  Christianity  alone,  is  adequate  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  that  great  work.  In  vain  had  sages  taught,  and  human 
wisdom  illumined  the  world.  Christianity,  at  her  first  entrance 
among  the  children  of  men,  beheld  gross  and  universal  depravity 
pervading  the  manners  of  mankind.  They  were,  according  to  the 
testimony  of  him  whose  words  are  eternal  truth,  "  filled  with  all 
unrighteousness,  fornication,  wickedness,  covetousness,  malici- 
ousness;  full  of  envy,  murder,  debate,  deceit,  malignity;  whis- 
perers; backbiters,  haters  of  God,  despiteful,  proud,  boasters,  in- 
ventors of  evil  things,  disobedient  to  parents,  without  understand- 
ing, covenant  breakers,  without  natural  affection,  implacable,  un- 
merciful." Wheresoever  her  influence  extended,  Christianity  ac- 
complished a  blissful  and  glorious  change — a  change  which  was 
the  boast  and  the  joy  of  her  apologists,  and  the  confusion  of  her 
enemies.  "Give  me,  exclaimed  Lactantius,  a  man  passionate, 
slanderous,  ungovernable ;  by  the  power  of  the  word  of  God  I  will 
render  hdm  placid  as  a  lamb.  Give  me  a  man  greedy  and  avarici- 


120  EFFECT  OF  THE  RFEORMATION 

uus,  I  will  give  him  back  to  you  liberal,  lavishing  his  gold  with 
unsparing  hand.  Give  me  a  man  who  shrinks  from  pain  and  death, 
and  presently  he  shall  contemn  the  gibbet,  the  stake,  and  the  wild 
beast.  Give  me  one  who  is  libidinous  and  a  debauchee,  and  you 
rihall  sec  him  sober  and  temperate.  Give  me  one  cruel  and  blood- 
thirsty, and  his  fury  shall  be  converted  into  clemency  itself. 
Give  me,  in  short,  one  addicted  to  folly,  injustice,  and  crime,  and 
he  shall  become  prudent,  and  harmless,  and  just."  Now,  the  Re- 
formation, being  a  recurrence  to  the  form  and  the  spirit  of  genuine 
Christianity,  produced  that  purity  of  conduct,  and  that  elevation 
of  moral  character,  which  are  its  inseparable  attendants.  The 
{housand  abuses  and  immoralities  which  were  tolerated,  and  ex^en 
encouraged,  under  the  preceding  reign  of  darkness,  fled  as  low- 
ering clouds  are  scattered  by  the  sunbeams  of  the  morning  ;  a 
return  was  extensively  made  to  that  purity  of  external  conduct 
which  had  been  universally  relinquished;  and  the  foundation  was 
laid  of  all  that  refinement  of  manners,  and  all  that  dignity  o£ 
character,  by  which,  since  the  Reformation,  the  people  of  the 
Protestant  have  been  exalted  above  the  people  of  Popish  lands. 
In  some  Protestant  countries,  this  auspicious  change  has  ta- 
ken place  to  a  greater  extent  than  in  others.  In  Scotland,  and  in 
Protestant  Switzerland,  the  lower  orders  of  society  are  much  su- 
perior, in  point  of  intelligence  and  morals,  to  people  of  the  same 
class  in  other  lands.  This  superiority  must  be  attributed  to  the 
more  extensive  diffusion  of  knowledge,  especially  religious  know- 
ledge— in  these  countries,  and  their  consequent  more  enlarged 
enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  the  Reformation.  But  the  influence 
of  this  happy  revolution,  in  elevating  the  tone  of  social  morality, 
has  not  been  confined  to  Protestant  lands.  In  those  Papal  states, 
in  which  Protestantism  has  obtained  toleration,  a  very  considera- 
ble improvement  has  taken  place  in  morals,  and  although  this  re- 
formation of  conduct  was  forced  upon  the  members  of  that  church 
by  the  surprising  increase  of  light  and  knowledge  that  had  taken 
place  around  them;  nevertheless  the  elevation  of  the  standard  of 
morality,  and  the  consequent  melioration  of  man's  social  condition 
are  pleasing  events— in  what  way  soever  they  may  have  been  ac- 


ON  SOCIAL  LIFE.  121 

complished, — and  we   venerate  the  momentous  revolution  by 
which  they  were  produced. 

The  reformation  has  imparted  a  degree  of  security  and  confi- 
dence to  the  transactions  of  commerce,  and  to  the  intercourse  of 
social  life,  which,  under  the  reign  of  Popery,  could  not  possibly 
exist.  The  detestable  principle,  that  every  other  interest  must  be 
abandoned  when  it  comes  into  competition  with  the  interests  of 
the  church,  is  utterly  at  variance  with  every  thing  like  generous 
friendship,  and  unsuspecting  intercourse,  among  mankind.  What 
confidence  could  there  be  in  social  intercourse,  what  happiness 
in  friendship,  when  men  lived  in  continual  jealousy  of  each  other, 
afraid  to  speak  the  genuine  sentiments  of  their  hearts,  lest  some 
unguarded  expression  should  annihilate  their  correspondence, 
and  occasion  the  sacrifice  of  their  frienJship — peradventure  also 
of  their  lives — at  the  shrine  of  unholy  zeal  ?  In  consequence 
of  the  unbounded  influence  which  the  clerical  orders  possessed 
over  the  minds  of  the  people,  they  had  the  virtue,  the  peace,  the 
happiness  of  domestic  society  entirely  in  their  power.  The  doc- 
trine in  which  the  people  were  carefully  instructed,  was  that  they 
ought  to  acquaint  their  spiritual  guides  with  all  their  affairs — 
their  faults  and  their  good  deeds — every  thing,  which  they  either 
had  done  or  intended  to  do.  Itwouldnotbe  believed,  ifit  were  not 
proved  by  the  fact,  that  ever  the  human  mind  could  be  so  dismall}'- 
blighted  as  tamely  to  acquiesce  is  such  a  dci^rading  imposition. 
A.las  !  if  the  mental  eye  be  once  closed  in  darkr.ess,  there  is  no 
usurpation  too  dreadful  or  too  debasing  to  obtain  the  implicit 
reverence  of  mankind.  Auricular  confession  was  received  as  a 
divine  doctrine  ;  and  the  wrath  of  the  Almighty  was  supposed  to 
rest  upon  the  sinner  who  dared  to  neglect  it.  And  thus  the 
priesthood  became  acquainted  with  the  transactions  of  every 
family,  enjoyed  many  opportunities  of  indul (ring  their  abmitiou* 
and  licentious  passions — had  the  virtue  and  peace  of  domestic 
society  completely  in  their  power — and  obtained  controul  over 
the  whole  system  of  human  life  !  When  we  think  of  such  a 
band  of  aspiring  and  profligate  men,  domestic  life  must  be  thti 
scene  of  jealousy,  and  suffering  and  misery. 

11 


122  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

The  Reformation  has  put  an  end  to  those  grevious  inroads  up^ 
on  the  comfort  of  society,  by  which  its  members  were  so  long 
afflicted  ;  has  denounced  intrusion  on  the  sanctuary  of  domestic 
life,  as  an  atrocious  offence ;  and  has  put  it  in  the  power  of 
every  man  to  enjoy  the  sweets  of  unsuspecting  friendship,  and  all 
the  charities  of  private  life.  To  that  auspicious  revolution,  un- 
der God,  we  are  indebted  for  all  that  charms  us  in  the  circle  of 
our  acquaintance,  and  all  that  we  hold  dear  in  our  domestic 
enjoyments. 

The  Reformation  has  effected  an  important  and  auspicious 
change  in  the  religious  temper,  and  in  the  whole  character  of 
those  among  whom  it  has  prevailed.  The  system  which  obtain- 
ed universal  regard  before  the  Reformation,  banished  generosity, 
gentleness,  and  even  humanity  of  feeling,  out  of  the  world.  In- 
tolerance— forbidding,  unrelenting,  vindictive  intolerance — be- 
came predominent,  and  awfully  infiuential  in  the  human  mind. 
A  departure,  however  unimportant  soever,  from  the  opinion,  or 
the  practice  of  the  church,  was  regarded  and  denounced  as  heresy; 
and,  to  this  crime,  forbearance — not  to  speak  of  charity  and 
kindness — was  forbidden.  Nurtured  amid  intolerance  of  so  dark 
a  complexion,  and  accustomed  to  behold  and  to  enforce  the 
merciless  execution  of  every  decree  which  Popery  had  sent  forth 
to  guard  its  unjust  usurpation,  the  character  of  mankind  became 
gloomy,  unsocial,  and  vindictive.  Even  females,  with  feelings 
more  delicate,  and  hearts  more  susceptible  of  tender  impressions, 
Ihan  those  of  the  other  sex,  relinquished  the  most  amiable  fea- 
tures of  their  character,  and  on  some  occasions,  were  divested 
even  of  humanity  itself.  In  those  countries  in  which  the  Inqui- 
sition had  obtained  an  establishment,  this  debasing  influence  of 
the  spirit  of  Popery  was  pre-eminently  displayed.  Kindness  of 
temper  seemed  utterly  to  have  forsaken  their  people.  The  bar- 
barities of  the  most  infamous  of  all  tribunals  were  talked  of,  and 
witnessed,  without  the  slightest  manifestation  of  horror  ;  nay^ 
the  committing  to  the  flames  of  a  number  of  fellow  creatures, 
whose  only  crime  was  that  of  thinking  for  themselves,  and  re- 
fusing to  worship  God  otherwise  than  according  to  his  blessed 
-.vord,  was  contemplated  with  pleasure  ;  and  multitudes  assembled 


ON  SOCIAL  LIFE.  123 

to  the  celebration  of  an  Auto-da-fe,  as  a  better  and  more  joyous 
entertainment  than  a  bull-feast,  or  a  theatrical  exhibition  ! 

Some  modern  advocates  for  Popery  affirm,  that  all  this  ought 
not  to  be  charged  on  the  prevailing  superstition  of  those  days ; 
that  the  intolerance  and  the  cruelties  to  which  we  have  been  al- 
luding are  not  attributable  to  the  system  of  the  pontifical  church, 
any  more  than  the  atrocities  which  have  been  sometimes  perpe- 
trated by  Protestants,  are  chargeable  on  the  religious  system 
which  they  profess.  This  affirmation,  if  rcaly  made  in  sincerity, 
must  emanate  from  minds  profoundly  ignorant  of  the  subject  ot" 
which  they  speak,  and  whereof  they  affirm.  The  religious  system 
of  Protestants  is  a  system  of  charity.  There  is  not  among  thoni 
all,  one  exception  to  this  principle.  The  dictate  of  every  creed 
that  exists  among  them  is  the  dictate  of  their  common  Lord — 
"  Love  your  enemies  ;  bless  them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to 
them  that  hate  you  ;  and  pray  for  them  who  despitefully  use 
you  and  persecute  you."  If,  in  some  of  their  Confessions, 
and  other  public  documents,  there  are  found  expressions  that 
savor  of  intolerance — that  seem  to  engage  their  disciples  to  ex- 
terminate by  violence  whatsoever  opinion  or  practice  they  con- 
ceive to  be  contrary  to  Holy  Scripture,  these  expressions  are 
most  satisfactorily  explained,  in  other  parts  of  those  documents, 
to  imply  the  removal  of  such  opinions  and  practices  by  those 
methods  alone  which  are  lawful,  and  which  have  the  sanction  of 
the  word  of  God.  And  if  it  must  be  acknowledged,  that  Pro- 
testants have  been  guilty  of  persecution,  their  deeds  of  atrocity 
are  to  be  attributed  to  the  profligate  authors  of  them,  who  were 
Protestants  merely  in  name,  and  not  to  the  religious  system 
which  they  profess  ;  for  it  is  impossible  for  their  bitterest  ene- 
mies to  point  out  one  article  in  their  respective  systems  which 
legitimately  leads  to  persecution.  But,  the  atrocities  which 
were  perpetrated  by  the  disciples  of  the  Papacy,  were 
perpetrated  from  principle,  in  obedience  to  the  dictates  of 
their  unholy  system,  and  not  merely  in  consequence  of  their 
own  partial  and  erring  views  of  duty,  all  combining  to  demon- 
strate that  intolerance  and  persecution,  even  to  suffering  and 
death,  are  the  principles  which  the  Roman  system  solemnly 


124  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

enjoin  on  the  belief  and  the  practice  of  her  members ;  for  they 
have  never  been  retracted.  The  last  General  Council  of  the  Pa- 
pal Church  has  stamped  its  confirmation,  and  the  character  of 
immutability  on  them  all;  and,  in  the  atrocities  which,  during 
the  last,  and  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  were  perpe- 
trated on  the  Protestants  in  various  continental  states,  and  espe- 
cially in  France,  the  world  has  beheld  these  principles  brought 
into  dreadful  practical  operation.  Such  principles  impress 
on  the  Papal  system  the  brand  of  foulest  infamy,  and  render  it 
deservedly  the  execration — as  it  has  been  the  dreadful  scourge — 
of  the  Christian  world.  Its  whole  effect  is  to^debase  and  bru- 
talize the  human  mind  ;  and  especially,  by  its  laws  against  he- 
retics, and  its  crusades  for  their  extermination,  and  its  inquisi- 
tions, and  acts  of  faith,  and  interdicts,  and  excommunications, 
and  all  the  host  of  other  deeds  of  bigotry  which  accord  with  its 
spirit,  and  are  mentioned  in  its  annals,  does  it  tend  to  banish 
every  thing  like  generous  and  kind  feeling  from  the  human  cha- 
racter, and  from  human  society,  and  to  induce  tampers  the  very 
opposite  of  those  which  the  Book  of  God  enjoins,  and  which 
were  exemplified  in  him,  who  "  loved  us  even  when  we  were 
enemies,"  and  who  hath  left  us  an  example  that  we  should  fol- 
low his  steps. 

Hence  Popery  is  a  system  utterly  at  war  with  the  social  hap- 
piness of  mankind.  The  induration  of  the  human  character 
w^hich  it  effected,  had,  it  is  true,  a  primary  reference  to  religion, 
but  could  not  be  restricted  to  it — for  the  whole  range  of  human 
affairs  was  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  subjected  to  its  influence. 
Bigotry  and  unfeeling  zeal,  once  established  in  the  soul,  display- 
ed its  unhallowed  influence,  even  in  matters  in  whicli  religion 
was  not  immediately  concerned,  and  especially  operated  with 
baleful  effect  on  the  condition  of  domestic  society.  There 
temper  is  every  thing;  "  bowels  of  mercies,  kindness,  humble- 
ness of  mind,  meekness,  long-suffering,  forbearance,  forgive- 
ness, charity," — are  the  amiable  dispositions,  which  genuine 
Christianity  recommends,  and  the  prevalence  of  which  would 
render  the  social  state  of  man  truly  blessed.     But  these  are  not 


ON  SOCIAL  LIFE.  125 

the  tempers  with  which  Popery  inspires  her  disciples.  They 
are  opposed  to  her  whole  spirit — as  entirely  opposed  to  it,  as 
light  is  to  darkness.  In  proportion,  therefore,  as  the  spirit  of 
Popery  is  imbibed  and  manifested  by  its  votaries,  domestic  soci- 
ety, and  the  intercourse  of  private  life,  are  marked  by  an  utter 
destitution  of  substantial  felicity.  Unfelt  for  and  unfeeling, 
hateful  and  hating  one  another,  is  the  wretched  picture  which 
was  exhibited  for  many  ages  by  human  society  in  the  Papal 
world. 

How  blissful  is  the  change,  which,  in  respect  of  these  thing?;. 
has  been  accomplished  by  the  Reformation !  The  merciful  and 
benign  religion  of  the  Saviour  of  men,  has  dethroned  from  its 
ascendency  the  fierce  and  forbidding  superstition  which  had 
usurped  its  place.  Far  from  intending  to  eradicate  the  humane 
and  benevolent  feelings  of  our  nature,  its  design  and  its  ten- 
dency are  to  elevate  and  ennoble  them.  Inculcating  by  its  su- 
preme authority  the  sacred  principle  of  good  will  to  men  of 
every  description,  it  aims  not  to  aggrandise  any  privileged  class 
or  community  of  persons,  but  to  promote  the  general  happines.> 
of  universal  mankind.  This  is  the  religion  which,  by  the  Pro- 
testant Reformation,  has  been  freed  from  corruption,  and  has 
obtained  scope  for  the  diffusion  of  its  heavenly  influence  over 
the  world ;  and,  in  proportion  to  the  degree  in  which  men  have 
imbibed  its  spirit,  have  the  mildness  and  the  charily,  which  are 
its  distinguishing  features,  been  manifested  in  their  intercourse 
with  each  other,  and  with  distant  lands.  Poor,  indeed,  must  be 
the  heart  of  that  man  who  can  cast  his  eyes  over  the  population 
of  Protestant  states,  and  behold,  instead  of  the  fierce,  and  cruel, 
and  unrelenting  zeal,  that  distinguished  in  other  days  the  people 
of  the  christian  world,  and  the  dark  and  disdainful  scowl  which 
they  were  wont  to  cast  upon  the  professors  of  another  faith,  and 
the  natives  of  other  lands,  the  displays  of  charity  and  philanthro- 
py by  which  they  are  now  beautified  and  ennobled — poor  must 
be  that  man's  heart,  who  r^n  look  abroad,  and  behold  all  this^ 
and  feel  no  emotions  of  satisfaction  from  the  momentous  change ' 

11* 


126  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

The  spirit  of  the  immortal  Howard  was  the  genuine  spirit  ol' 
Christianity,  and  of  the  Reformation ;  and,  although  compara- 
tively (ew  persons  hare  it  in  their  power  to  leave  their  homes, 
and  to  traverse  oceans,  and  mountains,  and  empires,  in  search 
of  want  and  wretchedness,  which  they  might  pity  and  relieve, 
the  same  noble  and  benevolent  temper  may  be  traced  in  that 
amiable  eagerness  which  pervades  the  Protestant  world  to  feel 
for  the  miseries  of  their  fellow  men,  and  which,  passing  im- 
measurably beyond  every  consideration  of  kindred,  and  nation, 
and  creed,  is  anxious  to  bless  the  whole  of  mankind  with  every 
temporal  and  spiritual  privilege  which  it  is  in  their  power  td 
bestow. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


EFFECT    OF    THE    REFORMATION^    OX  KXOWIiEDGE. 

Knowledge  is  of  infinite  importance  to  man,  both  in  his  indi- 
vidual and  social  state.  It  constitutes  the  dignity  of  his  nature, 
and  allies  him  to  superior  beings.  Without  it  he  is  degraded,  de- 
stroyed, lost. 

*' Knowledge  to  the  soul 

Is  power,  and  liberty  and  peace. 

Very  considerable  is  the  influence  which  the  progressive,  ad- 
vancement of  knowledge  sends  forth  on  a  nation's  character,  man- 
ners, and  felicity.  Its  tendency  is  to  polish  the  rudeness  of  na- 
ture, and  to  soothe  its  ferocity;  to  restain  the  passion,  and  hu- 
manize the  heart.  By  it  the  social  principle  is  strengthened,  so- 
ciety is  established,  its  laws  are  settled  and  explained,  its  want- 
provided  for,  its  labours  abridged,  its  whole  system  softened,  dig 
nified,  improved.  The  progress  of  religous  knowledge,  among 
the  inhabitants,  has  given  to  the  national  character  of  our  own 
land  a  tone  of  high  saperiority  over  that  of  other  states,  and  the 
pressure  of  the  darkness  of  that  deep  and  sullen  night  which  has 
been  induced  and  cherished  by  those  petty  spiritual  tyrants,  who 
have  been  the  scourge  and  the  curse  of  ill-fated  Ireland,  has  sunk 
the  people  so  immediately  below  the  rank,  in  European  society 
which  they  are  fitted,  and  under  a  happier  influence,  would  have 
been  entitled  to  claim  ?  The  melancholy  state  of  that  island* 
speaks  volumes  as  to  the  vast  importance  of  knowledge  to  mankind, 
and  proclaims,  that  outrage,  and  anarchy,  and  crime  arc  the 
mournful  consequences  of  its  absence. 


128  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

In  reviewing  the  influence  of  the  Reformation  on  the  interests 
of  liberty,  we  have  already  adverted  to  the  melancholy  condition 
of  the  world,  during  the  dark  ages,  in  respect  to  knowledge  and 
learning ;  and  to  the  means  which  were  employed  by  the  ambi- 
tious priesthood  of  Rome,  for  puting  out  the  intellectual  light  of 
mankind.  Useful  knowledge  was  utterly  banished  from  among 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  the  western  world  ;  and  the  con- 
dition, even  of  the  clerical  orders,  was  not  much  superior  to  that 
of  those  whom  they  professed  to  guide.  The  Bible  was  unknown 
to  most,  and  despised  by  all ;  and  the  study  of  its  original  lan- 
guages was  stigmatized  as  in  the  highest  degree  criminal  and 
dangerous.  Even  the  Faculty  of  Theology  at  Paris  declared, 
before  the  assembled  parliment,  that,  if  the  study  of  Greek  and 
Hebrew  was  permitted,  religion  was  undone.  Nor  was  it  only 
religious  knowledge  that  was  interdicted,  the  complete  extinction 
of  intellectual  freedom  and  investigation  was  attempted,  and  ac- 
complished. In  short,  the  maxim,  that "  ignorance  is  the  parent 
of  devotion  and  of  civil  subordination  " — a  maxim  the  most  mon- 
strous that  ever  blighted  minds  could  adbpt,  by  a  trisin  of  deep 
laid  policy,  was  rendered  dominant  over  all  Europe,  and  from 
that  time,  dreariness  and  barrenness  were  the  melancholy  char- 
acteristics of  many  ages  in  the  history  of  man.  Mind,  with  all 
its  energies  was  dormant ;  the  sublime  faculties  of  the  human 
soul,  by  which  it  is  allied  to  superior  natures,  were  subjected  to 
stagnation  ;  and  human  society  resembled  the  wide  wastes  of  an 
Arabian  desert,  or  the  gloom  of  the  moonless  and  starless  mid- 
night sky.     2. 

Literature,  in  the  south  of  Europe,  was  not  the  immediate  off 
spring  of  the  Reformation.  It  had  began  to  experience  an  im- 
portant revival  in  the  preceding  century,  and  operated,  with  no 
inconsiderable  effect,  in  forwarding  the  interests  of  the  great 
cause  of  religious  information,  which,  shortly  thereafter,  began  to 
attract  the  notice  of  mankind.  Nevertheless,  the  reviving  litera- 
ture of  the  south  acquired  stability,  and  received  a  farther  very 
important  impulse  from  the  Reformation  ;  and  it  is  pleasing  to 
observe  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the  Supreme  Governoi- 


ON   KNOWLEDGE.  129 

among  the  nations  making  restored  learning  and  vindicated  Chris- 
tianity thus  mutually  to  befriend  aud  promote  each  other.  "  The 
great  improvements  and  discoveries  which  have  given  to  the  sci- 
ence and  literature  of  modern  Europe,  a  new  form  and  direction 
belong,  properly  speaking,  to  the  eighteenth  century.  But  that 
intellectual  cultivation  which  attained  its  mighty  developemeni 
in  the  eighteenth,  received  its  shape  and  form  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  through  the  Reformation.  The  moving  spirit  of  that 
event,  in  both  these  periods,  determined  the  way  in  which  tlie 
intellectual  cultivation  should  run,  the  end  ii  should  strive  to  reacli, 
and  the  limits  within  which  it  should  be  confined.  The  apparent 
subjects  of  dispute  and  tumult  were  matters  at  first  sight  little 
connected  either  with  refinement  or  with  literature — for  tliese 
were  either  politics,  and  the  ecclesiastical  constitution,  the  being, 
the  limits,  and  the  exertions  of  spiritual  powers,  or  those  mys- 
teries of  religion  which  lie  too  deep  even  for  the  investigalicn  of 
philosophers  themselves.  The  Reformation,  nevertheless,  al- 
though these  were  apparently  its  objects,  had  the  effect  of  shak- 
ing and  altering  the  whole  of  Europe,  and  thus  exerted  a  very 
great  and  multifarious,  although  certainly  an  indirect,  influence 
over  literature,  and  over  all  the  exertions  of  intellect,  in  what- 
ever way  applied. 

More  indirectly,  bat  not  less  powerfully,  did  the  Reformation 
promote  literature,  in  another  way.  It  necessarily  originated  a 
variety  of  keen  theological  discussions  : — these  occasioned  a  dili- 
gent application  to  the  original  languages  of  the  sacred  writings. 
and  the  customs,  the  manners,  and  the  transactions  af antiquity. 
To  this,  and  other  literary  studies  of  a  similer  kind,  did  the  lear- 
ned men  of  the  age  devote  themselves  with  all  the  enthusiasm  ot 
minds  just  emancipated  from  degrading  restraint — and  the  result 
of  their  investigations — communicated  to  their  fellow  men 
through  the  medium  of  the  press — which  was  a  more  importam 
achievement  still — awakened  a  desire  for  general  knoM'ledge  ex- 
tensively among  mankind.  Had  the  system  which  obtained  the 
homage  of  the  world  in  the  dark  ages  been  perpetuated,  the 
^vhole  of  those  valuable  works  in  every  department  of  literature 


130  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

and  science,  to  which  the  last  three  centimes  have  given  birth, 
would  never  have  appeared,  and  all  the  splendid  results  of  their 
influence  on  society,  would  have  been  unknown.  For  the  most 
illustrious  of  those  works  by  which  the  latter  ages  of  the  world 
have  been  benefited  and  adorned,  received  their  birth  on  Pro- 
testant ground.  The  Papal  world,  it  is  true,  during  the  same 
period,  has  not  been  without  its  great  men.  Indeed,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  Reformation,  the  study  of  science  and  literature 
was  forced  upon  them.  The  learned  attacks  of  their  adversaries 
compelled  the  adherents  of  the  old  system  of  things  to  adopt 
this  measure  in  their  own  defence.  But  the  study  of  science 
and  literature,  either  sacred  or  profane,  never  did,  never  could, 
receive  encouragement  in  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  progress 
of  knowledge  among  her  members  proves  fatal  to  her  interests  : 
she  is  a  kinofdom  of  darkness.  In  Protestant  states,  and  in  them 
alone,  ample  encouragement  has  been  given  to  the  interests  of 
knov/ledge,  and  to  them  we  are  indebted  for  almost  all  those 
productions  in  theology,  and  in  the  various  departments  of  lite, 
rature,  which  have  cast  a  halo  of  glory  around  our  modern 
times  that  will  never  fade  aAvay.     3. 

However,  the  progress  of  knowledge  has  not  been  so  rapid 
since  the  Reformation  as  it  might  have  been.  The  number  of 
individuals  has  been  comparatively  small,  to  whom  intellectual 
improvement  has  been,  in  any  great  degree,  extended.  A  few 
privileged  classes  of  society,  have  had  the  means  of  enjoying 
it,  but  with  respect  to  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  every  thing 
beyond  the  mere  rudiments  of  knowledge,  has  been  kept  from 
them,  wrapt  up  in  profoundest  mystery,  insomuch,  that  how* 
great  soever  the  illumination  of  the  v/orld  may  have  been — and 
it  has  been  great,  immeasurably  beyond  any  thing  that  was 
known  previous  to  the  sixteenth  century — the  enlightened  part 
of  the  mass  has  borne  no  more  proportion  to  that  which  remain- 
ed unenlightened,  "  than  the  surface  of  the  ocean,  which  is  stir- 
red by  the  breeze,  and  radiant  with  the  sunshine,  does  to  the 
depth  of  waters  which  remain  dark  and  unmoved  beneath  it.'* 
Now,  the  permitting  this  state  of  matters  to  continue  so  long. 


ON  KNOWLEDGE.  131 

ill  the  administration  of  all  the  Protestant  states,  has  been  a  great 
practical  error ;— not  merely  exerting  a  ruinous  influence  on  the 
degraded  multitudes  who  have  been  its  immediate  victims  ;  but 
hostile  to  the  welfare  of  the  state— for  an  ignorant  people  arc 
the  ready  prey  of  every  profligate  demagogue  who  aspires  to 
power ;  and  dangerous  to  science,— for  it  is  the  improvement 
not  of  individuals  but  of  a  nation,  that  is  most  secure  against 
decay.  Knowledge  ought  not  to  have  been  withheld  from  the 
people,  but  the  most  vigorous  measures  should  have  been  em- 
ployed for  putting  them  universally  -n  possession  of  it;  and  at 
an  infinite  distance  should  men  have  stood  away  from  the  mon- 
strous maxim,  to  which  the  world  had  too  long  done  homage — 
that  knowledge  is  degraded,  when  it  is  applied  to  enlighten  the 
minds,  and  to  increase  the  comforts,  of  the  people.  This  maxim 
the  Reformation  has  exploded  ;  and  if  the  governments  of  Eu- 
rope had  steadily  pursued  the  path  which  that  great  revolution 
marked  out  to  them,  the  character  of  their  people  would  have 
stood  far  higher  than  it  does  at  this  day,  in  intellectual  and 
moral  worth.     4. 

The  age  in  which  it  has  pleased  Divine  Providence  to  cast  our 
lot  is,  happily,  more  distinguished  for  efibrts  to  promote  the  great 
cause  of  human  improvement  than  any  of  its  predecessors.  Men 
of  religion  have  set  themselves,  by  the  establishment  of  schools, 
and  other  benevolent  institutions,  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures  in  ignorant  and  long  neglected  lands ;  while  men  of 
science  are  laboring,  by  the  organization  of  literary  and  scientific 
institutions,  to  send  the  streams  of  useful  learning  torth  among 
the  ordinary  classes  of  mankind.  We  hail  with  unfeigned  plea- 
sure all  these  enterprises  of  benevolence.  They  are  all  promot- 
ing '*  the  cause  of  man."  We  rejoice  in  the  operation  of  those 
many  institutions  whose  object  is  to  extend  the  boundaries  of 
science ;  above  all,  we  rejoice  in  the  progressively  enlarging 
operations  of  those  educational  and  other  associations,  which 
have  a  special  bearing  on  religion.  The  knowledge  of  the  Scrip- 
tures is,  above  all  other  things,  of  importance  to  men.  By  them 
his  soul  lives,  and  he  is  fitted  for  being  the  inhabitant  of  eternity, 


132  EFFECT  OF  THE  RFEORMATION 

when  the  transactions  of  this  fleeting  scene  shall  be  forgotten— 
by  them  also  his  temporal  comfort  is  advanced, — and  m  propor- 
tion to  the  degree  in  which  their  blissful  influence  is  shed  over 
mankind,  are  men  rendered  virtuous  and  happy  ;  and  when  the 
knowledge  of  the  word  of  God  has  been  universally  diffused ; 
and,  m  consequence  of  that  diffusion,  the  spirit  of  Christianity 
shall  have  been  imbibed  by   mankind — the  determined  improve- 
ment of  human  society  shall  be  reached,  and  we  shall  behold 
"  a  world  in  principle  as  chaste  as  this  is  gross  and  selfish  ;'*  and 
the  falsehood,  and  wrong  and  outrage,  wherewith  earth  is  filled, 
shall  be  swept  away ;  and  ''  men  shall  beat  their  swords  into 
plough  shares,  and  their  spears  into  pruning  hooks ;  and  nation 
shall  not  lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  the 
art  of  war  any  more."     As  the  foe    of  this  most  blessed  consum- 
mation, stands  the  Church  of  Rome.     She  deprecates  a  period 
of  light ;  and,  at  this  moment,  is  she  putting  forth  her  efl?brts, 
with  more  determined  energy  in  opposition  to  the  progress  of  re- 
ligious and  other  useful  knowledge,  than  ever  she  has  done  since 
the  days  of  Luther.     Bible  Societies  are  denounced  by  her  head 
as  "  pestilential  abominations  ;"  schools,  in  which  the  scriptures 
are  taught,  are   anathematized  ;  and  the  imploring  voice  of  the 
poor  degraded  victims  of  her  delusions — pleading  to  be  permit- 
ted to  give  their  children  scriptural  education — is  disregarded  and 
condemned.     How  long,  and  how  fiercely,   Divine  Providence 
may  permit  this  foe  of  the  world's  illumination  to  rage,  wo  can- 
not determine  ;  but  we  know,  that  in  the  latter  days,  "  many 
«hall  run  to  and  fro,  and  knowledge  shall  be  increased ;"  that 
''  the  earth  shall   be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,   as  the 
waters  cover  the   sea ;"  and,  confident  that  these  cheering  an- 
nouncements shall  be  realized,  we  anticipate  with  delightful  cer- 
tainty the  approach  of  that  period  when,  instead  of  beholding  the 
stream  of  knowledge  rolled  back  to  its  source,  and  the  dreariness 
of  intellectual  and  moral  desolation  covering  the  earth,  men  shall 
see  the  waters  of  truth  pouring  themselves  in  resistless  tide 
among  all  lands  spreading  health,  and  verdure,  and  beauty,  over 
the  moral   scenery  of  our  world,  and  causing  "  the  wilderness 
and  the  solitary  place"  to  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose ! 


EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION  IN  AMERICA. 


The  beneficial  results  of  that  momentous  revolution  in  civil 
Society  which  the  European  Reformers  achieved,  are  yet  more 
powerfully  exemplified,  both  in  actual  operation  and  striking 
contrast  in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  After  the  discoveries  of 
Columbui,  with  the  exception  of  the  more  numerous  population 
of  partial  districts,  the  whole  continent  was  almost  in  a  state  of 
nature,  and  of  course  would  receive  those  features  and  charac- 
ters, which  the  conquerors  and  trans-atlantic  migrants  would 
stamp  upon  it.  All  those  portions  of  this  immense  section  of 
the  earth,  which  are  now  inhabited  or  territorially  claimed  by 
the  different  governments  were  originally  organized  in  their  so- 
cial relations  either  by  Protestants  or  Papists;  and  as  in  Europe, 
all  their  grand  distinctions  are  too  obvious  to  be  concealed. 

The  Papal  countries  were  occupied  by  Spaniards,  Portuguese 
and  French,  at  different  periods  of  priority,  but  the  former  ob- 
tained permanent  possession  at  least  a  century  anterior  to  the 
settlements  by  the  Britons  and  Dutch.  Those  province^  which 
were  thus  inhabited  by  the  European  Protestants,  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  "civil  liberty,  national  prosperity,  the  happiness  of 
social  life,  and  the  progress  of  knowledge,"  indubitably  rank 
upon  an  elevation  with  that  of  any  community  on  the  face  of 
the  earth;  while  the  people  who  have  been  subject  to  the  Papal 
jurisdiction  are  wretched,  uncivilized,  debased;  ignorant,  corrupt 
and  servile,  almost  at  the  antipodes. 

12 


134  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

In  the  previous  introductory  chapter,  a  reference  has  been 
made  to  the  evil  consequences  which  have  been  alleged  against 
the  Reformation.  Although  these  complaints  are  equally  ab^ 
surd  and  nugatory  ;  yet  the  charge  cannot  be  brought  at  all  with 
respect  to  Protestantism  in  America.  Here,  no  musty  legends 
and  forgeries  of  fabulous  miracle-mongers  have  been  burnt,  to 
constitute  a  pretext,  that  men  who  could  neither  read  nor  write, 
might  mourn  over  literary  treasures  which  never  existed.  Here 
no  Goths  and  Vandals  erected  their  gloomy  castles,  where  in  bar- 
baric magnificence,  they  indulged  in  all  beastly  vitiosity  within, 
and  without  cursed  their  vassals  with  the  iron  yoke  of  their  feu- 
dal despotism — consequently  none  of  these  castellated  ruins  re- 
main, to  eke  out  a  fictitious  narrative,  or  a  "  poetic  lament." 
Here  no  splendid  Mass-houses  and  convents,  consecrated  by 
antiquity,  and  abdicated  by  their  former  possessors,  in  utter  de- 
cay recal  to  the  memory  of  the  beholders,  the  period  when  they 
were  the  abodes  of  all  possible  corruption  ;  and  asylums  where 
sloth,  hypocrisy  and  crime  found  a  secure  and  certain  refuge. 
Consequently,  the  principles  of  the  Reformation  and  the  influ- 
ence of  Popery  have  been  permitted  to  exercise  their  capabili- 
ties unrestricted,  in  a  great  measure,  by  the  counteractions  which 
exist  in  Europe — with  this  essential  difference  however,  that  all 
the  support  that  the  Parent  government  could  possibly  contribute 
to  the  Popish  provinces  was  invariably  granted — while  all  the 
obstructions  which  ingenuity  could  invent,  were  ever  in  opera- 
tion to  quell  the  spirit,  and  to  plunder  the  advantages  which  the 
Protestants,  by  their  enterprize  obtained.  One  fact  in  the  early 
history  of  Canada  demonstrates  the  blind  infatuation  of  Popish 
rulers  in  the  strongest  possible  manner.  After  the  revocation 
of  the  edict  of  Nantz  by  Louis  XIV.  and  when  it  had  been  re- 
solved, that  the  Huguenots  should  either  "  turn,  burn,  or  be 
banished" — myriads  of  those  wretched  persecuted  Christians, 
most  fervently  implored,  that  they  might  be  permitted  peaceably 
to  retire  to  the  North  American  provinces  then  subject  to  the 
French  sway.  Le  Chaise,  the  Jesuit  paramour  of  the  King's 
harlot,  and  the  confessor  who  directed  that  execrable  monarch, 
instigated  the  denial  of  that  cheerless  boon.     Had  the  Lord  di- 


IN  AMERICA.  135 

rected  the  contrary — what  might  nov/  have  been  the  situation  ol 
those  colonies,  inhabited  during  a  hundred  and  forty  years,  by 
two  millions  of  Protestants  and  their  descendants,  and  who  at 
that  era  included  the  principal  manufacturers,  mechanics  and  ar- 
tists upon  the  habitable  globe  ?  The  human  mind  is  absolutel} 
overpowered  in  endeavoring  k)  comprehend  at  the  same  time, 
the  erudition  of  Claude,  and  the  eloquence  of  Saurin,  with  hun- 
dreds more  little  inferior,  and  the  gross  ignorance,  and  almost 
incredible  stultiloquence  of  nearly  all  the  Canadian  priests,  who 
fiave  successively  mumbled  over  their  idolatry  during  this  inter- 
val. Those  Huguenots  who  escaped  the  sword  of  the  dragoons, 
the  fires  of  the  Jesuits  and  their  death  by  starvation,  transported 
their  ingenuity  and  diligence  to  Elngland,  Holland  and  Protestant 
Germany,  and  imparted  to  those  nations  that  impetus,  which 
has  rendered  them  the  depots  of  manufactures  and  commerce 
for  the  Eastern  continent.  '  . 

The  general  topic  however,  shall  be  briefly  elucidated  in  the 
order  of  the  preceding  essay. 

I.  Civil  Liberty.  The  United  States  contain  even  from 
iheir  original  settlements,  tv/o  distinct  classes  of  persons.  Ad- 
venturers of  all  characters,  with  nothing  in  common  to  combine 
them,  but  the  essential  elements  of  human  society,  obtained  the 
Southern  region.  From  the  primary  residents  at  James  Town, 
to  the  permanent  occupation  of  Georgia,  with  the  exception  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  varied  inhabitants  were  remarkably  dissonant, 
in  their  moral  aspect  dissimilar,  and  in  religious  character,  it  is 
to  be  feared,  bearing  much  of  Belshazzar's  mournful  inscription, 
Tekel.  On  the  contrary,  the  New  England  colonies  were  con- 
stituted by  men,  of  very  exalted  endowments,  mental,  moral  and 
Christian.  Persecuted  for  their  undaunted  adhesion  to  religious 
truth,  the  rights  of  conscience,  and  its  necessary  concomitant, 
civil  freedom ;  the  Pilgrims  established  in  the  wilderness,  a  state 
of  society,  until  then  a  perfect  novelty  among  mankind,  except 
its  partial  similitude  to  the  Jewish  theocracy.  Th^ir's  was  "the 
cause  of  man,"  and  the  experiment  was  stamped  with  "  the  finger 
of  God."     Amid  all  the  fluctuations  of  two  centuries,  its  charac- 


i36  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

(eristics  are  evident,  and  its  fruits  palpable.  Its  essential  attri- 
butes even  now  retain  much  of  their  pristine  ascendency,  and 
are  so  commingled  with  a!l  the  social  organization,  that  it  requires 
not  the  spirit  of  prophecy  to  assure  us,  that  the  system  then  com- 
menced is  imperishable ;  and  will  continue  to  flourish  in  manly 
vigor,  until  the  labors  of  the  Puritans  shall  be  exchanged  for  the 
raillenial  glories  of  the  Pilgrims'  Guide  and  Saviour  God. 

Civil  and  religious  Liberty  seems  to  be  the  very  perfume  oi" 
the  Puritan  atmosphere,  which  every  descendant  of  the  Pilgrim 
must  inalienably  enjoy.  Despots  whether  ecclesiastical  or  civil, 
like  the  Pope  of  Rome,  or  petty  domestic  tyrants,  find  no  resting 
place  on  that  soil  which  the  first  American  Christians  consecrat- 
ed with  their  prayers,  and  fertilized  by  their  energies.  If  in  this 
aspect  we  compare  the  past  condition  of  the  Northern  States  of 
this  Union  with  Lower  Canada — or  the  present  unbounded  free- 
dom of  this  Republic  with  the  agitated  and  insecure  situation  of 
the  former  colonies  of  Spain  and  Brazil,  we  are  naturally  urged 
to  inquire — what  is  theca  ise  of  the  indescribable  difference  which 
exists  between  these  sections  of  the  American  continent?  From 
the  North  Eastern  Cape  of  Gaspe  to  the  Mexican  frontier,  we 
behold  the  various  people  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  that  civil  liber- 
ty which  secures  to  every  man  his  rights,  his  possessions,  and 
his  safety.  In  Canada,  however,  this  was  in  a  great  measure 
unknown  prior  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Papal  government — and 
in  all  the  other  districts — either  they  are  in  the  degradation  of 
servitude :  or  anarchy,  and  commotion,  and  danger  are  the  melan- 
choly experience  of  the  people,  struggling  to  reject  the  morbid 
diseases  which  the  long  predominance  of  Popery  has  incorpo- 
rated with  their  political  condition.  The  history  of  the  Western 
hemisphere  incontestably  demonstrates,  that  the  Papal  system  is 
an  incurable  enemy  of  all  the  noble  eflforts  of  genius,  art  and 
science,  and  of  all  the  divinely  bestowed  immunities  upon  man- 
kind. 1.1  truth  no  pencil  can  fully  depict,  and  no  pen  can  per- 
fectly delineate  the  wondrous  contrast  between  a  village  in  New 
England  and  a  village  in  Canada— and  between  North  American 
citizens,  enlightened,  active,  skilful,  enterprizing,  and  the  igno* 


IN  AMERICA.  137 

rant,  slothful,  stupid  and  almost  useless  creatures  Avho  groan  un- 
der the  yoke  of  Popish  exactions  ;  and  especially  as  the  terrors 
of  the  civil  bondage  are  aggravated  by  the  ruthless  iron  handed 
oppression  of  those  priestly  despots,  who  retain  their  slaves  in 
their  deadly  ecclesiastical  fangs. 

11.  National  Prosperity.  Nearly  three  hundred  years  have 
elapsed  since  the  earher  colonies  were  formed  by  the  Popish 
powers— and  what  is  their  present  situation?  They  areulcbased, 
poverty  struck  and  wretched.  Their  miserable  descendants  are 
ignorant  of  the  most  useful  knowledge,  without  any  of  tlie  su- 
perior advantages  of  civilized  life,  and  totally  destitute  of  Chris- 
tian morals  and  piety.  The  instructions  derived  from  a  review 
of  European  history  are  fully  corroborated,  by  the  survey  of  this 
Western  hemisphere.  Between  the  United  States,  and  all  the 
other  parts  of  the  continent,  with  the  exception,  perhaps  of  Up- 
per Canada,  there  is  an  indescribable  difference.  It  pervades  all 
that  is  seen,  felt,  known,  and  experienced.  Witli  a  century  of 
additional  age  and  opportunities,  they  are,  at  least,  live  genera- 
tions behind  in  progressive  advancement.  Numerous  causes  arc 
frequently  alleged  for  the  obvious  distinctions  which  thus  exist; 
but  the  grand  source  of  all  the  evils  has  been  artfully  excluded 
from  consideration.  Popery,  and  Popery  alone,  is  the  prime 
source  of  all  the  wretchedness  and  debasement  of  the  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  domains — and  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation  has 
been  the  author  of  the  unparallelled  progress  in  national  civil- 
ization and  enjoyment  which  the  citizens  of  this  Republic  so 
generally  realize.  Popery  is  essentially  a  subtle  scheme  to  ag- 
grandize a  few  at  the  expence  and  sacrifice  of  the  whole  com- 
munity— on  the  contrary ;'  Protestantism  is  a  philanthropic  sys- 
tem, which  amplifies,  without  restriction,  the  means  of  useful- 
ness and  comfort,  for  the  advantage  and  improvement  of  all. 
This  fact  is  most  impressively  illustrated  in  the  history  of  Lou- 
isiana. In  reference  to  that  state,  we  have  no  necessity  to  recur 
to  history,  but  to  actual  observation.  The  transformation  for 
the  better,  which  has  occurred  within  the  last  twenty-five  ycars^ 
'«  almost  incredible  as  a  romance.     New  Orleans  within  our  own 

12* 


138  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

generation,  was  little  more  than  an  assemblage  of  outlaws,  pi- 
rates,  and  every  other  enemy  of  mankind — all  whose  sins  were 
expiated  and  pardoned  by  the  Jesuit  priest,  if  they  transferred 
their  plunder  to  furnish  the  means  of  gratifying  his  inordinate 
licentiousness.  Now  although  alas  !  there  is  a  wide  field  for 
evangelical  operations,  yet  the  grosser  and  more  offensive  filth  is 
cleansed  away,  there  is  some  salt  to  preserve,  and  some  light  to 
illuminate  society,  and  both  are  rapidly  extending  their  influ- 
ence, while  the  port  has  become  one  of  the  largest  commercial 
marts  in  the  civilized  world.  Here  is  the  paralyzing  control  of 
Popery  in  direct  and  visible  opposition  to  the  vivifying  power  of 
Protestantism. 

The  history  of  Canada  affords  a  not  less  edifying  testimony  in 
favor  of  the  Reformation.  During  the  first  thirty  years  of  the 
government  of  that  province  by  Great  Britain,  it  attracted  little 
regard,  and  although  no  adequate  measures  even  now  have  been 
adopted,  duly  to  raise  the  character  of  the  people :  yet  within 
a  short  period,  a  sensible  advance  has  been  made  in  the  condition 
of  the  inhabitantfe.  Intelligence  is  extending,  the  comforts  of  life 
have  been  augmented,  the  impoverishing  and  dissolute  festivals 
have  been  diminished,  and  the  galling  priestly  yoke  has  been 
partially  lightened.  To  what  may  this  melioration  be  attributed  ? 
Not  to  any  change  or  reform  in  Popery — but  solely  to  the  in- 
crease of  European  Protestants,  and  the  palpable  conviction, 
that  unless  the  descendants  of  the  original  French  settlers  re- 
ceive a  superior  education  and  cultivate  their  faculties  with  more 
diligence  and  in  wider  amplitude,  ere  long  like  the  ancient  Gibe- 
onites,  the  Papists  will  unavoidably  be  nothing  better  than 
'•  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water"  to  the  more  active  and 
•Illuminated  Protestants. 

The  illustrations  which  could  be  adduced  from  the  South 
\merican  province^  in  contrast,  are  not  less  impressively  con- 
vincing— and  it  is  incontrovertible,  that  the  numerous  festivals 
alone  which  the  Papists  celebrate,  including  not  only  the  loss  of 
actual  labor,  but  also  the  profuse  expenditures,  and  priestly  ex- 
actions which  aTc  essentially  connected  with  those  holidays,  are 


IN  AMERICA.  139 

an  insurmountable  obstacle  equally  to  individual  wealth,  and  na- 
tional prosperity.  General  poverty,  ignorance,  wretchedness 
and  degradation  are  inseparable  from  the  predominance  of  Po- 
pery— and  the  proposition  is  veritied  if  possible,  more  clearly  by 
comparing  the  past  and  present  condition  of  this  hemisphere, 
than  in  reviewing  the  trans-atlantic  nations.  Although  many  oi 
the  most  ostensible  peculiarities  which  are  intwincd  with  Popery 
in  European  history  have  not  exhibited  all  their  offensiveness  on 
this  continent— yet  it  is  indubitable,  that  the  combinaiitn  of  Po- 
pery with  the  various  governments,  the  priestly  oaths  to  be  A\ith- 
ful  to  the  Pope  of  Rome,  the  celibacy  and  monachismin  some 
countries,  the  doctrine  of  indulgences,  and  the  Papal  system  as 
operating  upon  ail  the  social  or/anization,  have  been  attended 
with  the  same  pernicious  and  destructive  consequences,  which 
have  so  long  filled  Europe  with  misery  and  crime.  And  it  is 
not  less  certain,  that  the  amendment  of  the  Popish  countries  has 
been  in  exact  proportion  to  their  distance  from  Popery,  or  the 
progress  which  they  have  made  in  excluding  from  among  them 
that  baneful  curse. 

III.  Social  Life.  The  awful  system  invented  at  Rome,  and 
propagated  by  the  Papal  emissaries,  probably  developes  its  most 
discordant  and  agonizing  properties,  in  its  temporal  reference, 
when  contemplated  as  to  its  influence  on  domestic  happiness, 
and  the  amicable  relations.  All  history,  both  Protestant  and 
Popish,  attests  the  melancholy  truth;  that  the  idolatrous  su- 
perstitions of  the  Roman  "  mystery  of  iniquity,"  like  the  Bac- 
chanalian rites  of  the  ancient  Paganisms,  have  been  invariably 
accompanied  by  the  utmost  inordinate  depravation  of  morals. 
In  this  respect,  the  true  deiinition  of  Popery,  is  pollution. 
Existing  facts  verify,  that  the  Roman  priests  on  this  continent 
are  no  less  licentious  than  they  were  in  the  tenth  century — 
that  American  convents  and  nunneries  are  merely  "  cages  of 
every  unclean  and  hateful  bird" — that  auricidar  confession  is 
now,  as  it  always  w^as,  and  ever  must  be,  the  source  of  every 
outrage,  the  destroyer  of  female  purity,  and  the  extinguisher 
of  family  concord — and  that  Popery  is  one  unmixed  compound 


140  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

of  practical  iniquity  in  all  its  possible  reactions.  It  is  utterlv' 
impossible  to  conceive,  that  a  family  of  Papists  can  enjoy  do- 
mestic comfort,  upon  the  basis  that  they  are  sincere,  and  con- 
form to  the  claims  of  the  confessor,  unless  they  are  invincibly 
ignorant — for  exclusive  of  their  mutual  suspicions,  the  Romish 
system  is  so  execrably  intolerant,  that  every  delicate,  refined, 
tender  and  kind  sensibility  is  totally  eradicated. 

In  these  and  all  their  other  consociated  topics,  the  dis- 
tinctions between  the  residents  upon  this  continent  are  self  evi- 
dent— and  what  greater  contradiction  can  be  classified,  than  a 
Puritan's  habitation  in  New  England,  and  a  Canadian's  cottage 
on  the  Jacques  Cartier  — or  a  Pennsylvania  farmer's  home,  and 
a  Mexican's,  or  a  Brazilian's  residence ;  or  an  educated  Protes- 
tant woman  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  propounded  in 
competition  with  the  servile  creatures  who  confess  their  sins 
to  a  Roman  priest,  and  who  obsequiously  bow  down  to  his 
mandate — especially,  when  we  add,  that  Christian  philanthropy, 
public  spirit,  social  affection,  patriotism,  domestic  endearments, 
and  inflexible  uprightness  cannot  possibly  consist  with  the  sway 
of  Popery  over  the  human  mind  and  heart.  Such  is  the  direful 
system  as  it  operates  in  Europe,  and  not  less  fearful  are  its 
effects  in  America. 

IV.  Progress  of  Knowledge.  It  is  one  of  the  most  terrify- 
ing and  disgraceful  characters  of  Popery,  that  its  abode  is  dark- 
ness. Romanism,  owl-like,  abhors  the  resplendency  of  scien- 
tific knowledge,  and  literary  erudition,  not  less  than  the  sun- 
shine *of  Gospel  day.  Language  cannot  convey  the  distinctions 
which  exist  on  this  continent  in  this  department — but  as  in  the 
European  kingdoms  at  present,  there  exists  a  resolute  war.  On 
the  Protestant  side  are  arrayed,  intelligence,  learning,  enter- 
prize,  and  Christian  philanthropy  ;  with  the  Papists  are  ignor- 
ance, illiteracy,  sloth  and  pertinacious  ambition.  The  present 
moral  and  intellectual  character  of  tlie  Popish  districts  in  the 
Western  hemisphere,  if  there  were  no  other  facts,  would  con- 
sign the  Roman  system  to  utter  execration.  Ignorance  among 
the  priest  ridden  people  is  almost  universal:  so  that  they  are  in 


IN  AMERICA..  HI 

general,  little  more  than  animals  pi^opellcd  by  m.^tinct.  Unable  to 
read,  they  are  strangers  to  reflection— of  the  past  and  the  pre- 
sent they  are  equally  unconscious,  and  of  the  future  reckless- 
the  priest  is  their  God! — His  declarations  tiicy  believe;  his  man- 
dates they  obey;  his  displeasure  they  dreL»d;  and  his  approbation 
is  their  richest  enjoyment.  Contrast  the  districts  where  every 
child  is  taught  the  elementary  principles  of  useful  knowledge — 
and  the  country  where  no  school  house  is  fonnd — compare  a 
town  where  there  is  a  literary  institution  for  youth,  and  a  nation 
where  a  linguist  must  starve  for  want  of  pupils — and  place  in 
opposition  a  republic  which  disperses  one  thousand  copies  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  daily,  and  a  country  where  there  is  not  one 
thousand  persons  who  can  even  read;  or  who  are  permitted  to 
peruse  the  sacred  volume. 

Such  are  the  appalling  proofs  of  the  superiority  of  Protestant- 
ism to  Popery  in  America.  The  distinctions  are  so  plain,  that  "he 
who  runs  may  read" — and  in  whatever  aspect,  we  contemplate 
the  grander,  or  the  more  minute  developements  of  the  two  op- 
posite systems  in  the  countries  discovered  by  Columbus,  we  must 
affirm  of  the  Reformation,  that  a  "  Revolution  more  blissful 
and  more  worthy  of  the  grateful  remembrance  of  mankind,  has 
]iot  taken  place  in  the  world  since  the  age  of  primitive  Chris- 
tianity." 

'*  Wherever  the  "bright  and  blissful"  Reformation  has  been 
rationally  established,  or  generally  embraced,  it  has  meliorated 
and  given  stability  to  the  government ;  elevated  the  popular 
character,  diffused  information,  and  imparted  an  impulse  to  im- 
provement in  all  that  gives  comfort  to  life,  and  glory  to  a  nation. 
A  variety  of  circumstances  in  some  of  the  European  states  have 
prevented  the  meliorating  influence  of  the  Reformation  from 
being  so  largely  experienced  in  them  as  in  others.  But  wherever 
the  principles  of  the  Protestant  Reformation  have  prevailed — 
wherever  its  spirit  has  been  generally  imbibed,  these  effects 
have  invariably  followed,  and  there  have  appeared  in  the  bod\ 
of  the  people,  a  love  of  civil  liberty  genuine  and  regulated — o 
manly  tone  of  independence — a  virtuous   feeling — an   intelU- 


112  EFFECT  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

geuce — a  habit  of  industry — and  a  steadiness  of  conduct,  not  to 
be  found  in  other  countries,  Most  manifest,  therefore,  it  is, 
that  the  interests  of  the  Protestant  Reformation  are  of  incalcu- 
lable importance.  They  are  emphatically  "the  cause  of  man.'* 
They  are  identified  with  the  liberty,  the  improvement,  the  hap- 
piness of  the  human  race.  In  proportion  as  they  obtain  exten- 
sion and  permanence  over  the  world,  will  men  be  rescued  from 
error  and  degredation,  and  become  enlightened,  and  dignified- 
andfree.  But  if  they  were  to  be  overthrown — if  the  system 
before  which,  in  days  of  old,  the  world  bowed  down  in  lowliest 
submission,  were  again  to  obtain  the  ascendency — a  system, 
whose  essence  is  slavery,  and  whose  tendency  and  effect  have 
always  been  to  cherish  arbitary  power,  to  crush  every  thing 
that  bore  the  semblance  of  freedom,  to  check  the  progress  of 
information,  to  put  away  generosity  and  charity  from  man,  and 
to  render  him  degraded  and  miserable — if  this  system  were  to 
recover  its  power  and  triumph  over  mankind,  "the  boasted  free- 
dom which  the  Reformation  has  fostered,  would  perish  forever ; 
the  sentiment  of  liberty  and  the  fire  of  Heaven,  which  our  fathers 
transmitted  to  their  posterity,  would  expire  and  be  extinguished ; 
men  would  know  the  debasement  of  servility,  and  forget  the 
honors  of  their  kind ;  they  would  renounce  their  natural,  their 
religious,  and  their  political  rights,  and  be  contented  to  creep 
upon  the  earth,  to  lick  its  dust,  and  to  adore  the  caprices,  and 
the  power  of  a  tyrant!"  This,  indeed,  will  never  be.  Popery 
will  never  again  acquire  universal  ascendency,  nor  will  Protes- 
tantism ever  be  universally  overthrown.  Of  this  we  are  confi- 
dent—  because  the  Divine  Word  hath  assured  us,  that  the  Anti- 
Christian  power  shall  be  visited  with  calamity  upon  calamity, 
till  it  be  finally  destroyed.  At  the  same  time,  in  particular 
countries,  the  zeal,  and  the  policy,  and  the  power  of  Rome, 
combining  with  the  deep  apathy  and  deep  slumber  of  Protestants, 
may  obtain  a  triumph  over  the  cause  of  freedom,  and  turn  the 
current  of  improvement  in  those  regions  backwards.  It  may 
be,  that,  by  some  signal  and  unanticipated  successes  of  Popery, 
•tyhich  shall   endanger — if  not,   for  a  time,   overthrow— their 


IN  AMERICA.  14& 

IVeedom,  and  deprive  them  of  their  dearest  privileges,  He,  wliose 
benignant  interposition  is  so  strikingly  beheld  in  the  introduc- 
tion and  establishment  of  the  Reformation,  may  warn  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Protestant  world,  more  than  they  ever  have  been 
warned,  of  the  dangerous  spirit  and  character  of  Popery,  and 
teach  them,  more  effectually  than  ever  they  have  been  taught, 
the  unspeakakle  importance  to  mankind  of  that  great  cause, 
whose  prosperity  they  have  regarded  with  too  much  indifference. 
Most  imperative  is  the  duty  that  devolves  on  all  who  profess  to 
be  the  friends  of  the  Reformation,  to  wake  from  their  slumber, 
and  to  set  themselves,  by  every  legitimate  and  scriptural  mean, 
TO  counteract  the  bold,  and  strenuous,  and  persevering  efforts, 
which,  with  a  zeal  that  would  do  honor  to  a  worthier  cause,  the 
enemies  of  their  religion  and  liberties  are  putting  forth  for  their 
overthrow.  And  most  incumbent  it  is  on  Protestant  govern- 
ments, to  remember  their  immense  obligations  to  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  their  duty  in  consequence  of  these  obligations,  and, 
banishing  away  from  them  the  absurd  opinion,  that  religious  con- 
siderations should  never  be  allowed  to  mingle  in  political  affairs  ; 
to  cultivate  with  each  other  the  closest  connection,  and  to  deem 
themselves  bound,  in  respect  both  of  interest  and  of  duty,  to  seek 
the  prosperity  of  that  great  and  glorious  cause,  in  which  are 
most  deeply  involved  their  own  welfare  and  the  happiness  6f 
mankind." 


NOTES 


1.  The  spiritual  supremacy  of  tlie  Roman  poutifTs  was  fully  established 
about  the  commencement  of  the  seventh  century ;  their  temporal  power 
seems  not  to  have  been  consolidated  till  a  hundred  and  filty  years  after 
that  period.  The  immediate  instrument  of  its  consolidation  was  Pepin, 
the  betrayer  and  successor  of  Childerick,  King  of  France.  Tliis  crafty 
usurper,  having  been  materially  indebted  to  Pope  Zachary,  for  the  suc- 
cess of  his  enterprise  against  his  master's  throne,  conferred  upon  tliat 
Pope's  successor,  Stephen  II.,  the  Exarchate  of  Ravenna,  which  had 
been  recovered  from  the  King  of  the  Lombards,  by  whom  it  had  been 
taken  from  the  emperor.  About  tliirty  years  aflerwards,  important  addi- 
lions  were  made  to  the  gift  of  Pepin,  by  his  son  and  successor  Charle- 
magne. This  monarch  was  the  first  emperor  who  was  crowned  by  the 
Pope ;  and,  Irom  his  time,  the  pontiffs  assumed  tiie  right  of  conferring 
the  empire,  and  laid  claim  to  sovereignty  over  all  kings.  This  supre- 
macy of  the  head  of  the  Papal  church  is  asserted  in  strong  and  most 
blasphemous  terms  in  the  decrees  of  her  councils,  and  in  the  writings  ot' 
her  clergy  and  her  Popes.  "  The  Pope,"  says  one  council,  with  Gregory 
VII.  at  its  head,  ought  to  be  called  the  Universal  Bishop :  he  alone  ought 
to  wear  the  tokens  of  imperial  dignity  ;  all  princes  ought  to  kiss  his  feet; 
he  has  power  to  depose  emperors  and  kings,  and  is  to  be  judged  by  none." 
— "  The  church,  my  spouse,"  exclaims  Innocent  III.,  "  is  not  married  to 
me  without  bringing  me  something.  She  hath  given  me  a  dowry  of  a 
price  beyond  all  price — the  plenitude  of  spiritual  things,  and  the  extent 
of  things  temporal — the  mitre  for  the  priesthood,  and  the  crown  for  the 
kingdom — making  me  the  lieutenant  of  Him  who  hath  written  on  hi.s 
vesture ^nd  on  his  thigh,  'King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.' — to  enjoy 
alone  the  plenitude  of  power,  that  others  may  say  of  me,  next  to  God, 
Out  of  his  fulness  have  we  received."  To  deny  this  supremacy  is,  in  the 
estimation  of  the  cliurch,  heresy  of  the  gi'ossest  kind.  Accordingly, 
one  of  the  pontifis,  writing  to  Philip  of  France,  uses tiiese  words:  '"W'e 
would  have  you  know,  that  you  are  subject  to  us,  both  in  things  spiritual 
and  temporal;  and  we  declare  all  those  who  believe  the  contrary  to  be 
heretics !"  At  another  time,  addressing  the  same  monarch,  he  says, 
'■'  Do  not  allow  yourself  to  imagine  that  you  liave  no  superior,  or  tliat 
vou  are  not  in  subjection  to  the  head  of  the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy.  He 
that*  thinks  this  is  a  tool,  and  he  that  obstinately  maintains  this  is  an 
infidel,  separated  from  t.iie  flock  of  the  good  Shepherd."    The  proud  and 

1 


3  NOTES- 

blasphemous  claims  of  the  pontiffs  of  Rome  were  never  forgotten  by 
them,  but,  on  the  contrary,  were  prosecuted  with  so  much  success,  that, 
partly  by  subtlety,  and  partly  by  terror,  they  gained  the  sovereignty  of 
Europe,  and  rendered  the  greater  part  of  its  states  the  tributary  fiefs  of 
the  Papal  See. 

2.  In  England,  this  tribute,  which  was  known  by  the  name  of  Peter- 
pence,  was  exacted  annually  from  every  family  in  the  kingdom.  The 
payment  of  it  is  dated  from  the  reign  of  Ina  the  Saxon.  It  was  pro- 
hibited by  Edward  III.,  but  was  soon  after  revived,  and  continued  till 
the  Reformation.  Something  of  the  same  kind  existed  in  other  coun- 
tries. In  Ireland,  it  was  established  under  Henry  II. ;  in  Spain,  Portu- 
gal, and  France,  it  was  claimed  by  Gregory  VII. ;  and  was  introduced 
by  other  pontiffs  into  Sicily,  Poland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  &c. 

3.  History  tells  ua  of  two  princes — the  one  a  king  of  England,  the  other 
of  France,  whom  one  of  the  pontiffs  compelled  to  hold  his  stiiTup,  while 
he  mounted  on  horseback ;  of  another  prince — an  emperor  indeed — upon 
whose  neck,  while  he  was  lymg  prostrate  before  him,  the  Pope  placed 
his  foot,  exclaiming,  with  blasphemous  application  of  the  words  of  Holy 
Writ,  "  Thou  shalt  tread  upon  the  serpent,  and  trample  on  the  dragon 
and  the  lion  ;" — of  another,  that  he  was  compelled  to  lie  in  chains  under 
the  pontiff's  table ;  and  of  another,  the  king  of  England  who  ventured 
to  punish  the  insolence  of  Thomas  of  Canterbury,  that  he  was  obliged  to 
walk  barefooted  to  the  tomb  of  Becket,  and  there  to  receive  a  whipping 
on  the  bare  back  from  the  monks  and  priests. 

4.  Henry  IV.  Emperor  of  Germany,  was  a  still  more  melancholy 
example  of  the  tremendous  infliction  of  Papal  vengeance.  This  mo- 
narch, accused  by  Pope  Gregory  VII.,  of  exalting  himself  against  the 
church,  was  excommunicated,  and  deposed,  and  declared  unworthy  of 
the  allegiance  of  his  subjects.  Amid  the  rigours  of  a  severe  winter,  he 
passed  the  Alps,  with  his  queen  and  infant  son,  and,  after  excessive 
fatigue,  arrived  at  the  fortress  of  Canusium,  which  was  at  that  time 
the  residence  of  the  Pope.  There,  in  the  outer  court  of  the  fortress, 
did  the  suppliant  prince  stand  for  three  days  in  the  open  air,  barefooted, 
having  his  head  uncovered,  and  wrapt  around  with  a  wretched  garment 
of  woollen  cloth.  On  the  fourth  day,  the  haughty  priest  deigned  to  ad- 
mit him  into  his  presence,  and  agreed  to  absolve  him,  upon  the  condition 
of  his  attending  a  general  council,  to  answer  for  the  ciiarges  brought 
against  him,  and  promising  to  acquiesce  in  the  decision  of  that  council, 
ot  what  nature  soever  it  might  be.  The  council  met,  and,  at  the  in- 
stance of  the  Pope,  chose  another  emperor,  to  whom  Gregory  sent  a 
crown  bearing  this  inscription — 

"  Petra  dedit  Petro,  Petrus  diadema  Rodolpho." 
Bloody  were  the  wars  to  which  this  transaction  gave  birth,  and  dreadful 
were  the  treachery  and  cruelty  to  which  the  ejected  monarch  was  ex- 
posed. Twenty  years  did  he  manfully  contend  for  his  rights,  durmg 
which  time  no  fewer  than  four  excommunications  were  thundered  against 
him.  At  last,  in  utter  violation,  not  merely  of  the  precepts  of  that  holy 
religion  of  which  they  professed  to  be  the  guardians,  but  of  the  common 


NOTES.  3 

dictates  of  humanity,  the  pontiffs— of  whom  there  were  four  in  the 
short  space  of  twenty  years— excited  his  son  to  rebel  against  him,  to 
seize  his  person,  and  cast  him  into  prison.  Thence  was  he  brought  to 
the  Diet  at  Mentz,  where  again  he  was  excommunicated,  divested  of 
the  imperial  dignity,  stript  of  his  royal  robes,  and  left  a  melancholy  mo- 
nument of  fallen  greatness,  and  of  the  perfidy  and  cruelty  of  the  Pupal 
court.  After  reigning  upwards  of  forty  years,  Henry  died  at  Liege,  a 
poor  broken-hearted  exile. 


5.  mauisiTioN. 

This  tribunal,  the  most  infamous  by  which  the  history  of  the  world 
has  been  disgraced,  was  instituted  in  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  for  the  purpose  of  completing  the  extermination  of  heretical 
pravity  from  among  mankind.  Its  introduction  and  establishment  con- 
stitute  the  most  awful  demonstration  that  could  possibly  have  been  given 
of  the  apostacy  of  the  Papal  church,  and  a  most  unequivocal  and  dread- 
ful proof  of  her  anti-Christian  character.  Any  thing  more  abhorrent  to 
justice  than  the  procedure  of  this  tribunal — any  thing  more  revo  ting  to 
humanity  than  the  punishments  which  it  imposed — any  thing  more  at 
war  with  religion  than  the  spirit  which  it  displayed — any  thing,  in 
f3hort,  more  entirely  destructive  to  the  peace  and  the  happiness  of  man- 
kind, than  its  existence  and  operation,  it  is  impossible  to  conc<  ive.  It  did 
not  seem  enough  to  the  profligate  ecclesiastics  who  sought  to  become 
masters  of  the  world,  that  they  had  imposed  restraints  upon  liberty  of 
thought,  and  induced  an  almost  universal  midnight  darkness,  and  gained 
the  implicit  reverence  of  almost  all  the  princes  and  the  nations  of  Eu- 
rope; there  seemed  to  be  some  fbrmidableinstitutionstill  wanting  in  their 
system  of  de^adation,  by  which  their  unhallowed  triumph,  wheresoever 
it  was  not  fully  achieved,  might  be  completed,  and  which  might  seem 
hke  some  mighty  giant  standing  at  the  gate  of  the  gloomy  edifice  which 
they  had  reared,  and  frowning  destruction  on  all  by  whom  it  should  be 
assailed.  This  institution  they  found  in  the  court  of  the  Inquisition.  Or- 
ganized for  the  avowed  purpose  of  punishing  and  exterminating  heresy, 
it  came,  in  the  course  of  a  tew  years,  in  consequence  of  the  extensive  in- 
terpretation which  that  term  received,  to  take  cognizanceof  every  thing 
which  the  Inquisitors  thought  proper  to  regard  as  a  crime.  It  was  heresy. 
to  reject  even  one  tenet  which  had  been  sanctioned  by  the  councils  or  the 
court  of  Rome;  to  read  an  interdicted  book;  to  be  kind  to  an  excommu- 
nicated person  ;  to  utter  an  unguarded  expression  respecting  the  Papal 
authority ;  or  even  to  manifest  natural  afiection  to  the  dearest  earthly 
friend,  who  had  incurred  the  censure  of  the  church.  In  consequence  of 
such  an  extensive  interpretation  of  the  crime  of  heresy,  the  lile  of  almost 
every  man  was  put  under  the  power  of  this  most  extraordinary  tribunal. 
Soonafterthe  establishment  of  the  Inquisition,  positive  crime  was  not  neces- 
sary in  order  to  bring  persons  under  the  cognizanceof  that  ruthless  court : 
it  was  sufficient  to  be  suspected  of  heresy,  and  the  slightest  degree  of  sus- 
picion, however  destitute  of  foundation,  was  enough  to  involve  those  to 
whom  it  attached,  in  proceedings  which  might  terminate  in  their  tempo- 
ral ruin,  and  their  death.    Even  wiicn  no  ground  for  suspicion  existed, 


NOTES. 

accusations  were  basely  fabricated,  and  the  innocent  and  unsuspecting- 
were  imprisoned,  that  their  property  might  be  forfeited,  and  their  all  sa- 
crificed to  the  avarice  and  villainy  of  the  church. 

The  mode  of  proceeding  which  this  court  adopted  in  the  prosecution  of 
its  victims,  was  not  less  extraordinary  and  unjust,  than  that  by  which 
they  were  brought  under  its  power.  Secrecy,  dishonest  and  tyrannical 
secrecy,  under  cover  of  w^hich  the  most  flagrant  crimes  might  be  perpe 
trateJ,  was  its  pecuhar  characteristic.  The  apprehension  of  the  unhap- 
py victims  of  inquisitorial  villainy  was  not  permitted  to  transpire.  Gen- 
erally, in  the  dead  hour  of  night  this  deed  of  darkness  was  done ;  and 
with  so  much  dexterity  was  it  conducted  by  the  familiars  of  the  holy  of- 
fice, that  not  only  those  who  lived  in  the  same  neighborhood,  but  even 
those  who  were  members  of  the  same  family,  in  mai.y  instances,  knew 
nothing  of  it.  One  striking  example  of  this  is  mentioned  by  the  historian 
of  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  in  the  case  of  a  father,  three  sons,  and  three 
daughters,  who,  although  they  lived  together  in  the  same  house,  were 
all  carried  prisoners  to  the  Inquisition,  without  knowing  any  thing  of  one 
another's  being  there,  till  seven  years  afterwards,  when  those  who  were 
alive  were  brought  forth  to  an  Auto-da-fe  ! 

Lestany  of  its  infernal  secrets  might  be  disclosed,  no  sounds  were  per- 
mitted to  be  heard  throughout  the  dismal  apartments  of  the  Inquisition. 
The  poor  prisoner  was  not  allowed  to  bewail  his  fate,  or,  in  an  audible 
voice,  to  offer  up  his  prayers  to  Him  who  is  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed  ; 
nay,  even  to  cough  was  to  be  guilty  of  a  crime,  which  was  immediately 
punished.  A  poor  prisoner,  we  are  told  by  Limborch,  was  on  one  occa- 
sion heard  to  cough ;  the  jailors  of  the  Inquisition  instantly  repaired  to 
him,  and  warned  him  to  forbear,  as  the  slightest  noise  was  not  tolerated 
in  that  house.  The  man  replied  that  it  was  not  in  his  power  to  forbear ; 
a  second  time  they  admonished  him  to  desist;  and  when,  again,  the  poor 
man,  unable  to  do  otherwise,  had  repeated  the  offence,  they  stripped  him 
naked,  and  cruelly  beat  him.  This  increased  his  cough,  for  which  they 
heat  him  so  often,  that  at  last  he  died  through  the  pain  and  anguish  of 
the  stripes  which  he  had  received ! 

From  the  moment  that  the  hapless  victims  of  tliis  dreadful  tribunal 
were  arraigned  before  it,  an  utter  violation  of  justice  characterized  every 
step  of  the  proceedings  that  were  instituted  against  them.  No  informa- 
tion was  given  to  the  wretched  prisoner  respecting  the  crime  of  which  he 
had  been  accused.  The  grand  object  of  the  Inquisitors  was  to  make  him 
inform  against  himself;  with  his  accusers,  or  the  witnesses  against  him, 
he  ^vas  never  confronted  ;  nay,  he  knew  not  even  their  names.  He  was 
told  that  the  holy  fathers  never  proceeded  save  on  the  most  unquestiona- 
ble information  ;  was  exhorted  to  reflect  on  his  past  life,  and  to  tell  inge  ■ 
nuously  the  sins  which  he  had  committed;  and  was  assured  that  inge- 
nuous confession  would  procure  for  him  a  mitigation  of  the  punishment 
which  his  crime  might  deserve.  Rarely  were  their  efforts  unsuc^cessful. 
By  operating  successively  on  their  victim's  hopes  and  fears — now  fawn 
ing  and  then  frowning — one  while  affecting  to  pity,  another  while  utter- 
ing dreadful  menaces";  atone  time  deluding  him  with  promises  of  speedy 
deUverance,  at  another  threatening  racks,  and  dungeons,  and  burning 
tlames;  or,  if  these  methods  availed,  not,  by  a  train  of  excruciating  tor 


NOTES  5 

inents,  in  the  invention  of  which  more  than  human  ingenuity  seemed  to 
have  been  employed,  and  in  the  application  of  which  more  than  human 
cruelty  seemed  to  have  been  displayed  ;  and,  by  tedious  confinement  in 
some  solitary,  noisome  dungeon,  where  his  eye  never  beheld  the  lio-ht  ot 
heaven,  and  no  sounds  ever  fell  upon  his  ear,  save  the  clanking  of  his 
fetters,  and  the  stern  voice  of  the  man  who  daily  brought  him  his  misera- 
ble pittance  of  bread  and  water;— in  this  way  did  the  Inquisition  o-ene- 
rally  bring  their  unhappy  prisoner  to  accuse  himself,  to  confess  crimes  of 
which  he  was  innocent,  and  thus  to  become  the  instrument  of  his  own  de- 
struction. 

The  annals  of  the  human  race  contain  nothing  more  revolthig  to  the 
feelings  of  our  common  nature,  than  the  details  that  are  jrivcn  of  the 
cruelties,  which,  under  the  name  of  punishments  for  crime,  were  inflicted 
on  the  unfortunate  victims  of  the  Inquisition.     Unlike  all  other  tribunals, 
its  punishments  commenced  even  before  conviction ;  tortures,  at  the  re- 
membrance of  which  humanity  shudders,  were  not  unfrequently  em- 
ployed to  extort  an  acknowledgment  of  guilt,  and  tens  of  thousand.^ 
expired  amid  their  agonies,  who  were  as  innocent  of  the  crimes  laid  to 
their  charge  as  the  unborn  child.    On  those  persons  who  were  declared 
to  be  guilty,  and  denounced  as  obstinate  heretics,  the  full  vengeance  of 
this  dreadful  tribunal  was  made  to  descend.     They  were  given  up  to 
experience  a  doom,  which,  if  the  lawful  fact  were  not  before  us,  we 
could  not  believe  it  possible  that  man  would  ever  have  brought  down 
upon  his  fellow-man.    Death,  amid  the  excruciating  agonies  of  the  fire, 
was  the  fate  to  which  they  were  devoted :— the  revolting  spectacle  of  a 
multitude  of  human  beings  expiring  in  the  flames,  was  the  most  glorious 
triumph  of  the  Inquisition,  and  it  was  enjoyed  with  rapture,  at  the  same 
time  that,  with  unparalleled  hypocrisy,  the  inquisstors  affected  to  pit}'- 
the  sufferers,  and  to  shed  tears  of  compassion  over  their  melancholy  doom:. 
It  was  againt  the  poor,  but  memorable  people,  known  by  the  name  of 
Waldenses,  that  the  operations  ofthis  infernal  tribunal  were  first  directed." 
Dwelling  in  the  deep  sequestered  valleys  of  the  Alps,  and  greatly  ui'- 
known  and  unheeded  by  the  rest  of  the  world,  this  interesting  people 
preserved,  for  many  ages,  the  purity  of  Christian  worship  and  Christian 
manners :  and  their  little  region  was    he  scene  of  light  and  verdure, 
while  all  around  it  was  darkness  and  desolation.     But  persecution  en 
tered  their  peaceful  retreats.    It  was  not  to  be  brooked  by  the  haughty- 
priest  at  Rome,  that  this  simple  people  should  remain  strangers  to  tin • 
Papal  yoke,  and  be  permitted,  without  interruption,  to  worship  God  ac 
cording  to  his  word,  apart  from  the  Roman  abominations.    In  tJie  eai-. 
of  surrounding  princes   their  atrocious  heresy  was  proclaimed  ;  and  it 
was  declared  to  be  more  meritorious  and  pleasing  to  Heaven,  to  under- 
take a  crusade  against  them,  than  even  against  the  infidel  possessors  v.. 
the  Holy  Land.    Armies  were  accordingly  assembled  at  the  nodof  th. 
pontiff ; 'against  a  people  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy,  was  the 
tempest  of  their  ungodly  fury  let  loose ;  and  the  lone  valiies  of  tlu; 
Waldenses,  where  the  sound  of  War  had  never  been  heard,  became  the 
scene  of  outrage  and  ruthless  devastation.  In  this  truly  anti-christian  Avork 
of  extirpating  heretics  and  heresy  together,  was  the  Inquisition  devised 
l^nd  established  to  yield  its  aid— as  if  the  ordinary  operations  of  pontificul 

1*      , 


XOTEir. 

vengeance  would  have  too  tardily  accomplished  the  annihilation  of  thi^ 
weak,  unresisting,  harmless  people.  The  detail  of  its  atrocious  proceed 
ings  in  their  ill-iated  land — of  the  havoc  which  it  made  among  the 
humble  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ — of  the  tortures  which  it  inflicted — and 
of  the  martyring  flames  which  it  lighted  up,  will  remain  in  the  histo- 
rian's page  an  indelible  memorial  of  its  character,  and  of  the  monstrous 
wickedness  of  the  system  that  gave  it  birth.  Over  this  devoted  and 
truly  christian  people,  among  whom  the  truth  of  God  was  preserved, 
when  all  the  surrounding  world  had  forsaken  it,  did  persecuting  Rome, 
nfter  ages  of  bloodshed  and  martyrdom,  gain  a  melancholy  triumph  ; — 
ihe  crossed  banners  of  Popery  floated  over  deserted  villages,  and  the 
wrecks  of  conflagrated  towns,  and  the  poor  remains  of  the  Waldensian 
church,  driven  to  strange  lands,  or  retired  in  the  mountains  and  lurking- 
places  of  their  own  beloved  land,  v/ept  in  secret  over  its  sad  desolations, 
;md  cried  to  Him  who  is  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed,  that  he  would 
arise  and  plead  his  own  cause. 

In  other  parts  of  Europe  was  this  bloody  court  soon  erected;  and,  that 
^he  poor  heathen  who  had  never  heard  of  the  name  of  Jesus  might  have 
a  specimen  of  the  tender  mercies  of  christian  men,  and  might  be  gained 
over  as  converts  to  the  christian  taith,  its  establishment  was  extended  to 
Pagan  lands.  Nowhere,  however,  has  its  operation  been  more  power- 
ful and  terrific  than  in  the  kingdom  of  Spain.  Eight  hundred  persons 
have  been  condemned  at  once  by  one  of  its  tribunals ;  and,  in  the  year 
1481,  the  Inquisition  of  Seville  condemned  to  the  flames  no  fewer  than 
two  thousand  persons,  and  nearly  twenty  thousand  more  to  various  inferi- 
or degrees  of  punishment.  During  hundreds  of  years,  the  inquisition 
has  been  the  terror  of  the  Spanish  people,  and  has  contributed  more  than 
any  other  institution  to  reduce  to  the  lowest  pitch  of  degradation  their 
national  character.  "  Its  form  of  proceeding,  is  an  infalhble  way  to  destroy 
Vv'homxSoever  the  inquisitors  wish.  ,  The  prisoners  are  not  confronted  with 
the  accuser  or  informer.  Nor  is  there  any  informer  or  witness  who  is  not 
listened  to.  A  public  convict,  a  notorious  malefactor,  an  infamous  per- 
son, a  common  prostitute,  a  child,  are,  in  the  holy  office,  though 
no  where  else,  credible  accusers  and  witnesses.  Even  the  son  may  de- 
pone against  his  father,  and  the  wife  against  her  husband. 

This  procedure,  unheard  of  till  the  institution  of  this  court,  makes  the 
whole  kingdom  tremble.  Suspicion  reigns  in  every  breast.  Friendshi}) 
and  quietness  are  at  an  end.  The  brother  dreads  his  brother,  the  father 
his  son." 

Thi.?  is  the  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition  ! — a  tribunal  more 
blasphemous,  and  dishonouring  to  the  God  of  Mercy,  and  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  and  more  awfully  degrading  to  mankind,  than  any  other 
institution  that  ever  has  existed  upon  earth.  Everlasting  infamy  will 
rest  upon  its  name  ;  and  the  execrations  of  the  wise  and  the  good,-in  all 
ages,  will  light  upon  the  unhallowed  system  that  gave  it  birth. 


0.  What  a  contrast  does  the  open  manly  conduct  of  this  Reformer  pre- 
sent to  the  timid,  time-serving  policy  of  the  literati  of  his  age — not  ex- 
t^epting  even  the  most  eminent  of  them  all — the  great  Erasmus.  Distin- 
guished as  the  latter  was  for  the  extent  of  his  learning,  the  elegance  of 
his  taste,  and  the  acuteness  ot  his  mind  ;  deemed,  peiiiaps  deservedly. 


NOTES.  7 

the  iirst  literary  character  of  his  age,  he  yet  ''  loved  the  praise  of  men" 
more  than  the  approbation  of  his  conscience  or  of  God.  He  knew  full 
well  the  extreme  corruption  of  the  political  and  religious  establishment-; 
of  the  times  in  which  he  lived  ;  he  was  aware,  especially,  of  tlie  intole 
rable  oppressions  exercised  over  her  poor  deluded  subjects,  by  the  protli 
gate  hierarchy  of  Rome  ;  yet,  neither  had  he  the  courage  to  stand  Ibrtli 
iri  the  high  character  of  Reformer,  nor  was  he  honest  enough  to  avow 
himself  the  friend  of  those  wlio  came,  with  their  lives  in  their  hands,  t(. 
plead  in  that  character  the  cause  of  their  God  and  of  their  I'ellow-men. 
Admired  and  respected  as  a  man  of  literature,  by  princes,  and  Popes, 
and  dignified  ecclesiastics,  their  favor  he  could  not  forfeit— an  exposure 
of  the  abuses  of  the  system  with  which  they  were  identified— save  in 
as  far  as  such  an  exposure  consisted  with  the  retention  of  their  esteem — 
he  dared  not  to  attempt  j  and  thus  did  he  at  once  degrade  the  eminence 
of  his  literary  character,  and  cast  away  his  reputation  as  an  honest 
man,  by  sacrificing,  at  his  shrine  of  self  and  of  the  world,  the  solemn 
convictions  of  conscience,  and  momentous  interests  of  mankind.  What 
could  be  a  more  striking  proof  of  the  temporizing  spirit  of  this  great 
man,  than  the  language  in  which,  on  one  occasion,  he  addressed  one  of 
the  Reformers — cautioning  him  not  to  injure  his  reputation,  by  represent- 
ing him  as  connected  with  ;/ie?7«  ?  "I  pretend  not  to  pass  sentence  on 
you,"  writes  he  to  Ecolampadius,  who,  in  the  preface  to  one  of  his 
books,  had  used  the  phrase — "  Magnus  Erasmus  noster^^—our  great 
Erasmus—"  I  leave  that  to  the  Lord,  to  whom  ye  must  stand  or  fall.  But 
this  I  reflect  on,  namelj^.  What  do  several  great  men  think  of  you? — the 
Emperor,  the  Pope,  Ferdinand,  the  Kirg  of  England,  the  Bishop  of 
Rochester,  Cardinal  Wolsey,  and  many  others,  whose  authority  it  is  not. 
safe  for  me  to  condemn,  and  whose  favor  I  must  not  despise.  You 
know  very  well  that  there  are  some  who  look  upon  you  as  heresiarchs 
and  schismatics.  Now,  Wliat  will  such  persons  say,  when  they  read  in 
your  preface  the  words.  '  Our  great  Erasmus  V  Will  not  the  consequence 
be,  that  the  dangerous  suspicions  of  powerful  princes  or  of  implacable  ene- 
mies, who  had  begun  to  think  a  little  better  of  me  since  the  publication 
of  my  '  Diatribe,^  will  be  all  revived  ?" 

Who  feels  not  shocked  at  the  utterance  of  such  language  by  this  great 
man,  especially  when  it  is  recollected,  that  he  had  acknowledged,  that 
the  Reformers  were  the  benefactors  of  mankind  ?  Who  is  not  grieved  to 
behold  this  most  accomplished  scholar  of  his  day,  meanly  tomporising, 
in  order  to  secure  the  favor  of  men  whom,  in  his  heart,  he  most  thorough- 
ly despised  ?  But  he  had  his  reward.  The  fading  honors  of  literary  emi- 
nence Erasmus  gained,  but  of  the  imperishable,  everbrightenmg  glories, 
that  constitute  the  inheritance  of  the  Reformer  and  the  patriot,  his  crook- 
ed policy  bereaved  him  for  ever. 

The  '"  Diatribe,''^  was  a  treatise  "  On  the  Freedom  of  the  Will,"  in 
which  he  attacked  the  doctrine  of  the  Reformers,  and  of  which  he  sent 
copies  to  the  Royal  polemic,  Henry  VIII.  and  Cardinal  Wolsey,  telling 
the  latter  that,  if  it  had  been  his  choice  to  dedicate  the  book  to  any  one, 
he  would  have  inscribed  it  either  to  him  or  to  the  Pope! 


7.  Under  the  pretence  of  completing  the  erection  of  Peter's  Church, 
hich  had  been  begun  by  his   predecessor  Julius  II.,  but  in  reality  to 


8  NOTES. 

defray  the  expenses  of  his  gaudy  court,  Leo,  in  the  fifth  year  of  hie  pon- 
tificate, published  an  indulgence  throughout  the  christian  world,  pro- 
claiming to  all  who  would  give  money  for  the  specified  purpose,  the 
pardon  of  their  sins,  and  the  privdege  of  eating  eggs  and  cheese  in  the 
time  of  Lent.  One  of  the  retailers  of  these  indulgences,  John  Tetzel,  a 
Dominican  monk,  and  a  man  of  matchless  impudence,  came  with  his 
unholy  merchandize  into  the  neighborhood  of  Wittemberg,  where  Luther 
was,  at  that  time,  laboring  in  the  double  character  of  professor  of  philo- 
sophy, and  preacher  of  the  gospel.  The  audacity  and  impiety  of  Tetzel 
in  the  discharge  of  his  iniquitous  commission  were  extreme.  He  made 
his  boast  that  he  had  saved  more  souls  from  hell  by  his  indulgences,  than 
Peter  had  converted  to  Christianity  by  his  preaching.  He  assured  the 
purchasers  of  them,  "  That  their  crimes,  how  enormous  soever,  would  be 
Ibrgiven;  whence  it  became  almost  needless  for  him  to  bid  them  dismiss 
all  their  fears  about  their  salvation.  For,  remission  of  sins  being  full}* 
obtained,  what  doubt  could  there  be  of  salvation  ?"  In  the  usual  form 
of  absolution,  written  by  his  own  hand,  he  said,  "  I,  by  the  authority  of 
Jesus  Christ,  through  the  merits  of  his  most  holy  passion,  and  by  the  au- 
thority of  his  blessed  apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  and  of  our  most  holy  Pope, 
delegated  to  me  as  commissioner,  do  absolve  thee,^r5^,  from  all  eccle- 
siastical censures  however  incurred,  secondly^  from  all  sins  committed  by 
thee,  however  enormous — for  so  far  do  the  keys  of  the  church  extend — 
and  I  do  this,  by  remitting  all  the  punishments  due  to  thee  in  purgatory, 
on  account  of  thy  crimes,  and  I  restore  thee  to  the  innocence  and  puritj' 
in  which  thou  wast  baptized,  so  that  the  gates  of  punishment  may  be 
shut  to  thee  when  dying,  and  the  gates  of  paradise  be  opened." 

No  language  can  express  the  indignation  which  a  christian  must  feel, 
when  he  thinks  of  the  impiety  of  those  men,  who,  claiming  to  be  the  re- 
presentatives of  Jesus  Christ,  dared  to  lend  their  sanction  to  such  transac- 
tions as  these.  But  their  time  was  come.  The  cup  of  their  iniquity  was 
full.  Another  impost  of  this  kind  they  were  never  again  to  obtrude  up- 
on the  world.  The  opposition  which  Luther  gave  to  the  blasphemies  of 
Tetzel  commenced  the  Reformation;  and  the  bold  step  which  he  took, 
when  he  called  in  question  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  was  the  signal  of 
that  revolt  which  rescued  the  half  of  Europe  from  the  Papal  yoke. 


8.  "  I  know  not,  whether  any  man  that  ever  lived  had  a  greater  reve- 
rence than  Luther  for  the  Holy  Sctiptures.  It  was  the  sight  of  them, 
through  God's  blessing,  Avhich  illuminated  the  mind  of  the  Reformer  : 
it  was  the  want  of  them  which,  through  the  iniquity  of  Papal  artifice 
and  tyranny,  held  the  people  in  the  darkness  of  ignorance  and  supersti- 
tion. Luther,  therefore,  easily  foresaw  the  important  consequences  which 
must  flow  from  a  fair  translation  of  the  Bible  in  the  German  language. 
Nothing  would  so  effectually  shake  the  pillars  of  ecclesiastical  despo- 
tism ;  nothing  was  so  likely  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  pure  Christi- 
anity. Accordingly,  he  rejoiced  in  the  design  of  expediting  the  work, 
while  his  adversaries  deprecated  the  execution  of  it,  more  than  any  he 
resy  of  which  the  greatest  enemy  of  the  church  could  be  guilty."  In 
the  year  1522,  he  published  his  version  of  the  New  Testament,  and  his 
translation  of  the  vvhole  Scriptures  was  completed  and  given  to  his  coun- 
try in  the  year  1530.    "  The  whole  performance,  was  a  monument  of 


NOTES.  9 

that  astonishing  industry  which  marked  tho  character  of  the  Reformer." 
The  effects  of  this  labor  were  soon  felt  in  Germany ;  immense  numbers 
now  read  in  their  own  language  the  precious  word  of  God,  and  saw  with 
their  own  eyes  the  just  foundation  of  the  Lutlieran  doctrine.  A  more 
acceptable  present  could  scarcely  have  been  conferred  on  men  who  were 
emerging  out  of  darkness ;  and  the  example  being  followed  soon  after  by 
Reformers  of  other  nations,  the  real  knowledge  of  Scripture  was  facili- 
tated to  a  surprising  degree."  Than  all  this,  nothing  could  have  been 
more  fatal,  and  therelbre  more  an  object  of  depi  ecation,  to  the  court  of 
Rome.  "  The  Papacy  saw  all  this,  and  sighed  indignant.  Emser,  a 
doctor  of  Leipsic,  was  employed  to  deprecate  the  credit  of  Luther's  ver- 
sion ;  and  the  Popish  princes,  within  the  bounds  of  their  respective  do- 
minions, ordered  the  work  to  be  burnt.  Nor  was  their  resentment  ap- 
peased by  the  advice  which  Luther  openly  gave  to  their  subjects,  pati- 
ently to  bear  their  sufferings  without  resisting  their  governors,  but  not  to 
come  tbrward  and  deliver  up  their  German  Bibles,  or  to  do  any  act 
which  might  testify  an  approbation  of  the  requisitions  of  their  superiors 
on  the  occasion.  Ferdinand,  Archduke  of  Austria,  issued  a  sev^ere  edict 
to  prevent  the  publication  of  Luther's  translation  of  the  Bible,  which  had 
gone  through  several  editions;  and  he  forbade  all  the  subjects  of  his  im- 
perial majesty  to  have  any  copies  either  of  that  or  any  other  of  Luther's 
books.  In  Flanders,  the  persecution  appears  to  have  been  extreme. 
Many,  on  account  of  their  adherence  to  Lutheranism  were  put  to  death, 
or  deprived  of  their  property,  by  the  most  summary  and  tyrannical  pro- 
ceedings." 

In  manifesting  such  keen  opposition  to  this  benevolent  undertaking  ol' 
tlie  German  Reformer,  the  Papal  court  acted  in  precisely  the  same  spirit 
with  that  which  it  had  displayed  in  reference  to  the  translation  of  the 
Bible,  which,  two  hundred  years  before,  the  Primitive  Reformer  of  En- 
gland, WicklifTe,  had  accomplished  into  his  native  tongue.  It  was  one 
of  the  first  great  works  in  which  that  illustrious  man  engaged,  to  enable 
his  poor  ignorant  countrymen  to  read  in  their  own  tongue  the  wonderful 
works  of  God.  The  Bible,  he  affirmed,  is  the  will  of  God;  and  it  long 
gave  him  great  offence,  and  was  deemed  by  him  one  of  the  capital  errors 
of  Popery,  that  it  should  be  locked  up  from  the  people.  But  his  publi- 
cation in  the  English  language  of  the  records  of  divine  truth,  brought 
down  upon  him  a  storm  of  dreadful  persecution.  "  Christ  entrusted  his 
gospel,"  said  the  ecclesiastics  of  his  time,  "  to  the  clergy  ami  doctors  of 
The  church,  to  minister  it  to  the  laity,  and  weaker  sort,  accorcHng  to  their 
exigencies  and  several  occasions.  But  this  Master /oAn  WickUffe,  hy 
translating  it,  has  made  it  vulgar ,  and  has  laid  it  more  open  to  the  laity, 
and  even  to  women,  who  can  read,  than  it  was  wont  to  be  to  the  most 
learned  of  the  clergy,  and  those  of  tiie  best  understanding;  and  thus, the 
o-ospel  jewel,  the  evangelical  pearl,  is  thrown  about  and  trodden  under  leet 
of  swine."  In  order  to  stay  the  progress  of  this  growing  evil,  attempts 
were  made  to  suppress,  by  public  authority,  the  reading  of  the  English 
Scriptures ;  and  the  instances  were  not  few,  in  which  the  poor  people,  for 
whose  souls  no  man  cared,  had  to  expiate  the  crime  of  reading  t*^*^'"^  at 
the  stake— in  which  case,  it  was  a  common  practice  to  lasten  round  the 
ucck  of  the  condemned  heretic  the  parts  of  the  scriptures  which  were 


10  NOTES. 

found  in  his  possession,  that  they  with  him  might  be  consigned  to  the 
same  fate. 

Not  only  in  the  ages  of  darkness  was  hostility  to  the  pubhcation  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  in  the  languages  of  Europe  manifested  by  the  pontiffs 
and  the  court  of  Rome.  In  succeeding  ages,  and  in  our  own  time,  has 
this  dismal  feature  in  the  character  of  the  Papal  church  been  strikingly 
displayed.  In  vain  have  her  insidious  friends  affirmed,  and  her  too  cre- 
dulous opponents  believed  the  affirmation — that  her  illiberal  spirit  is  de- 
parted, and  that  the  superstition  and  bigotry  which  distinguished  her  in 
days  of  old  have  given  place  to  better,  more  enlightened,  and  more  rati- 
onal sentiments.  Only  a  few  years  have  elapsed  since  two  solemn  bulls 
were  issued  from  the  pontifical  court  in  relation  to  this  very  subject,  dis- 
tinguished by  all  the  bigotry  and  intolerance  of  the  dark  ages. 


BULL  AGAINST  BIBLE  SOCIETIES. 
Pope  Pms  vn. 

We  promised  to  return  an  answer  to  your  appeal  to  this  Holy  See,^ 
respecting  what  are  called  Bible  Societies.  We  long  since,  wished  to 
comply  with  your  request ;  but  an  incredible  variety  of  accumulating 
concerns  have  so  pressed  upon  us  on  every  side,  that,  we  could  not  at- 
tend to  your  solicitation.  We  have  been  truly  shocked  at  this  most  craf- 
ty device,  by  which  the  very  foundations  of  religion  are  undermined ; 
and  having,  because  of  the  great  importance  ot  the  subject,  convened 
for  consultation,  the  Cardinals  of  the  Roman  Church,  we  have  delibe- 
rated with  the  utmost  care  and  solicitude  upon  what  measures,  within 
the  compass  of  our  pontifical  authority,  are  proper  to  be  adopted,  and  in 
order  to  remedy  and  abolish  this  pestilence  as  far  as  possible.  In  the 
mean  time,  we  heartily  commend  you  upon  the  singular  zeal  you  have 
displayed,  in  having  denounced  to  the  Apostolic  See,  this  defilement  of 
the  faith,  most  imminently  dangerous  to  souls ;  and,  although  it  is  not 
at  all  necessary  to  excite  him  to  activity  who  is  making  haste,  since  of 
your  own  accord  you  have  already  shewn  an  ardent  desire  to  detect  and 
oppose  the  impious  machinations  of  these  innovators,  yet,  we  again  ex- 
hort you,  that  whatever  you  can  achieve  by  power,  provide  for  by  coun- 
sel, or  effect  by  authority,  you  will  duly  execute  with  the  utmost  ear- 
nestness. 

For  this  end,  we  convey  to  you  a  signal  testimony  of  our  approbation 
of  these  your  laudable  exertions,  and  also  endeavor  therein  still  more 
and  more  to  excite  your  pastoral  solicitude  and  vigilance.  For  the  ge- 
neral good  imperiously  requires  us  to  combine  all  our  means  and  ener- 
gies to  frustrate  the  plans  which  are  prepared  by  its  enemies  for  the  des- 
truction of  our  rehgion :  whence  it  becomes  an  especial  duty,  that  you 
first  of  all  expose  the  wickedness  of  this  nefarious  scheme,  as  you  are 
already  doing  so  admirably,  to  the  view  of  the  faithful,  and  openly  pub- 
lish the  same,  according  to  the  rules  prescribed  by  the  church,  with  all 
that  erudition  and  wisdom  in  which  you  excel ;  namely,  that  Bibles 
printed  among  heretics  are  numbered  among  prohibited  books ;  for  it  is 
evident  from  experience,  that  the  Holy  Scriptures,  when  published  in 


NOTES.  11 

the  vulgar  tongue,  have,  through  the  temerity  of  men,  produced  more 
harm  than  benefit.  And  this  is  rather  to  be  dreaded  in  times  so  de- 
praved, when  our  rehgion  is  assailed  from  every  quarter  with  great  cun- 
ning and  effort,  and  the  most  grievous  wounds  are  inflicted  on  the  church. 
It  is,  therefore,  necessary  to  adhere  to  the  salutary  decree  of  the  congre- 
gation of  the  index,  that  no  versions  of  the  Bible  in  the  vulgar  tongue 
be  permitted,  except  such  as  are  approved  by  the  Apostolic  See,  or  pub- 
hshed  with  annotations. 

We  confidently  hope,  that,  even  in  these  turbulent  circumstances,  the 
Poles  \vill  afford  the  clearest  proofs  of  their  attachment  to  the  religion 
of  their  ancestors,  and  this  especially  by  your  care,  as  well  as  that  of 
the  other  prelates  of  this  kingdom,  whom,  on  account  of  the  stand  tiiey 
are  so  wonderfully  making  for  the  faith  committed  to  them,  we  congra- 
tulate, trusting  that  they  all  will  very  abundantly  justify  the  opinion 
entertained  of  them.  It  is  moreover  necessary  that  you  should  transmit 
to  us,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  Bible  which  Jacob  Wuick  published  in 
the  Polish  language  with  a  commentary,  as  well  as  a  copy  of  the  edition 
of  it  lately  put  forth  without  those  annotations  taken  from  the  writings 
of  Papists,  with  your  opinion  upon  it ;  that  thus,  from  collecting  them 
together,  it  may  be  ascertained,  after  mature  investigation^  what  errors 
lie  insidiously  concealed  therein,  and  that  we  may  pronounce  our  judg- 
ment on  this  affair  for  the  preservation  of  the  true  faith 

Proceed,  therefore,  to  pursue  the  truly  course  upon  which  you  have 
entered. 

Given  at  Rome,  at  Mary  the  Greater,  June  29,  1816,  the  seventh 

year  of  our  Pontificate. 

Bigotry,  and  a  hostility  to  the  general  reading  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
not  less  dark  and  unrelenting  than  that  which  was  displayed  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  constitute  the  prominent  features  of  this  document 
Since  the  time  when  it  was  issued,  their  mitred  author  has  gone  into 
that  state  where  the  authority  of  Popes  is  not  regarded,  and  where  to 
the  highest,  as  well  as  the  lowest  of  mankind,  the  knowledge  of  the 
Word  of  God  is  the  only  conductor  to  everlasting  felicity.  Another  car- 
dmal,  since  then,  has  been  transformed  into  a  Pope,  and  has  taken  pos- 
session of  the  pontifical  throne.  But  it  would  seem  as  if  the  heads  and 
ministers  of  the  Papal  church  were  given  up  to  judicial  infatuation. 
Each  determines  to  tread  in  the  footseps  of  his  predecessors,  and,  if 
possible,  to  exceed  them  in  obstinate  attachment  to  all  the  doctrines  of 
the  ancient  faith.  Far  from  realizing  even  the  remotest  approach  to  the 
hypothesis  of  a  celebrated  writer,  who  regards  it  as  a  possible  case  that 
the  Popish  hierarchy  might  be  converted  to  genuine  Christianity,  and  be- 
come, even  under  its  present  constitution,  the  organ  of  the  extensive  pro- 
pagation of  true  religion,  the  heads  of  the  Papal  church  seem  bent  on 
more  and  more  glaring  aberrations  from  the  purity  of  Christian  faith, 
and  increased  devotedness  to  the  bigoted  and  exclusive  system  which, 
in  days  of  old,  was  dominant  over  the  nominal  Christian  world.  Exact- 
ly in  proportion,  indeed,  as  the  devotees  of  Popery  are  loud  in  affirming 
that  a  change  has  taken  place  lathe  sentiments  ot  the  Papacy,  and  that 


12  NOTES. 

her  spirit  is  now  infinitely  less  illiberal  than  it  was  in  the  days  of  Wick- 
JifTe  and  Luther,  are  her  sovereign  and  infallible  heads,  from  time  to  time, 
by  their  decisions,  and  bulls,  and  encyclical  letters,  contradicting  these 
statements,  and  giving  ample  demonstration  that  the  character  of  their 
system  is  still  the  same,  and  that  they  are,  in  all  points,  the  zealous 
children  of  their  apostatical  predecessors.  In  proof  of  this,  the  successor 
of  Pius  VIL,  sent  forth  a  document  which  he  entitles  "  The  EncycHcal 
Letter  of  Pope  Leo  XII,"  in  which,  with  the  same  tone  of  lofty  bigotry 
that  characterized  the  bulls  of  his  predecessors,  he  condemns,  in  the  most 
anqualitied  manner,  and  anathematises,  the  general  circulation,  and  ge- 
neral leading,  of  the  Word  of  God. 

"  You  are  aware,"  says  the  pontiff,  "  that  a  certain  society,  com- 
monly called  the  Bible  Society,  strolls  with  effrontry  throughout  the 
world  ;  which  society,  contemning  traditions,  and  contrary  to  the  well 
known  decree  ot"  the  Council  of  Trent,  labors  with  all  its  might,  and 
by  every  means,  to  translate,  or  rather  to  pervert,  the  Holy  Bible  into 
the  vulgar  languages  of  every  nation ;  from  which  proceeding,  it  is 
greatly  to  be  feared,  that  what  is  ascertained  to  have  happened"^  as  to 
some  passages,  may  also  occur  with  regard  to  others — namely,  that,  by 
a  perverse  interpretation,  '  the  gospel  ot"  Christ  be  turned  into  a  human 
gospel,  or,  what  is  still  worse,  into  the  gospel  of  the  devil.'  To  avert 
this  plague,  our  predecessors  published  many  ordinances;  and,  in  his  lat- 
ter days,  Pius  VII.  sent  two  briefs,  one  to  Ignatius,  Arhcbishop  of  Gne- 
sen,  the  other  to  Stanislaus,  Archbishop  of  Mohilow,  in  which  are  many 
proofs,  accurately  and  wisely  cohected  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and 
from  traditior-,  to  shew  how  noxious  this  most  wicked  novelty  is  to  both 
faith  and  morals." 

"  We  also,  exhort  you  to  turn  away  your  flocks,  by  all  means,  from 
these  poisonous  pastures.  Beseech  in  all  patience  and  doctrine,  that 
the  faithful  entrusted  to  you  be  persuaded,  that  if  the  Scriptures  be 
every  where  indiscriminately  pubhshed,  more  evil  than  advantage  will 
arise  thence,  on  account  of  the  rashness  of  men." 

"  Behold  then,  the  tendency  of  this  society,  which,  moreover,  to  at- 
tain its  ends,  leaves  nothing  untried ;  for  not  only  does  it  print  its  trans- 
lations, but  also,  wandering  through  the  towns  and  cities,  it  delights 
in  distributing  them  amongst  the  crowd ;  nay,  to  allure  the  minds  of 
the  simple,  at  one  time  it  sells  them,  at  another,  with  an  insidious  hbe- 
rality,  it  bestows  them." 

After  a  variety  of  exhortations,  in  which  the  Massmen  are  called  upon 
to  oppose  the  deluge  of  these  evils,  which  is  spreading  over  the  world, 
there  occurs  the  following  singular  sentence,  in  which  indication  is  af- 
tbrded  of  what  would  be  done,  in  the  way  of  putting  down  the  Bible  So- 
ciety, and  propagating  the  true  faith  in  the  world,  if,  as  in  days  of  old, 
the  civil  powers  were  mider  the  control  of  the  church  : — "Again,  there- 
fore, we  exhort  you,  that  your  courage  fail  not.  The  power  of  tempo- 
red  princes  will,  we  trust,  come  to  your  assistance,  whose  interest,  a.^ 
reason  and  experience  show,  is  concerned  when  the  authority  of  the 
church  is  questioned^ 

Thus  the  character  of  the  Papal  church  is  really  unchanged — all  the 
disastrous  visitations  of  Divine  Providence  which  its  head  and  members 


NOTES.  13 

have  recently  experienccil,  have  had  no  elFect  in  meliorating  its  relent- 
less spirit— the  same  inveterate  hostility  to  the  reading  of  the  Bible,  and 
the  same  shrinking  from  the  light  of  sacred  truth,  which  were  its  cha- 
racteristics in  the  days  of  darkness,  distinguish  it  still— in  short,  the  poor 
abused  disciples  of  the  Roman  church,  are  as  really  and  entirely  exclud- 
ed as  ever  they  were  from  tasting  those  blessed  waters,  which,  flovvin; 
from  beneath  the  throne  of  ^(jJod  and  of  the  Lamb,  have  been  made  t 
pour  their  healing  and  gladdening  streams  among  the  desolate  heritagf  $ 
of  this  fallen  world  ! 


9.  The  name  Protestant,  took  its  rise  from  the  following  circumstance. 
At  a  diet  of  the  princes  of  the  empire,  held  at  Spires,  in  Germany,  in  th« 
year  1529,  it  was  decreed  by  the  majority  there  present,  "  That  in  thos( 
places  where  the  edict  of  Worms  had  been  received,  it  would  not  be  law 
ful  for  any  one  to  change  his  religion ;  that  in  those  places  where  th« 
new  Lutheran,  or  Reformed  religion  was  exercised,  it  should  be  main 
tained  till  the  meeting  of  a  council,  if  the  ancient  Popish  religion  coult 
not  be  restored  without  danger  of  disturbing  the  public  peace ;  but  tha 
the  mass  should  not  be  abolished,  nor  the  Papists  hindered  from  the  frc! 
exercise  of  their  religion,  nor  any  one  of  them  allowed  to  embrace  the 
Reformed  faith ;  that  the  sacramentarians  should  be  banished  the  em 
pire  j  that  the  anabaptists  should  be  punished  with  death,  and  that  nc 
preacher  should  explain  the  gospel  in  any  other  sense  than  what  was 
approved  by  the  church."  Against  this  decree  six  princes  of  the  empire 
entered  their  protest,  namely,  John,  Elector  of  Saxony ;  George,  Mar- 
grave of  Brandenburg;  Ernest  and  Francis,  Dukes  of  Brunswick  and 
Lunenburgh;  Philip,  Landgrave  of  Hesse  ;  and  Woolfgang,  Prince  of 
Anhalt.  Fourteen  free  cities  of  Germany  joined  in  this  protest ;  and 
from  it  the  professors  of  the  Reformed  faith  first  obtained  the  name  of 
Protestants,  a  name  which  was  afterwards  given  in  common  to  all  who 
separated  themselves  from  the  tyrannical  and  idolatrous  practices  of  Rome. 

10.  At  the  Diet  of  the  German  Empire,  held  at  Augsburg,  on  the^ 
25tli  of  June  1530,  Bayer  the  Chancellor  of  Saxony,  read,  on  behalf  of 
tJie  Protestants,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  emperor  and  assembled  princes, 
the  celebrated  declaration  of  Lutheran  principles,  since  distinguished  by 
the  name  of  "  The  Augsburg  Confession."  This  declaration — of  which 
the  matter  is  said  to  have  been  supplied  by  Luther,  while  the  style  and 
arrangement  were  the  vvofk  of  the  elegant  Melancthon — was  heard  by 
the  assembly  with  deep  attention,  and  had  the  effect  of  confirming  the 
wavering  among  the  Protestants,  and  gainmg  over  many  to  their  cause 
who  had  hitherto  been  its  foes.  The  enemies  of  the  Reformation  pretend- 
ed to  refute  the  doctrines  of  the  confession,  in  a  tract  which  was,  shortly 
aflerwards,  published  by  two  of  the  most  learned  of  their  doctors:  bu' 
this  tract  was  answered,  in  a  most  eloquent  and  masterly  manner,  b^ 
another  from  the  pen  of  Melancthon.  At  last  after  reason  and  argumen 
had  been  found  ineffectual  tor  gaining  to  the  Reformed  that  liberty  of  re- 
ligious profession  which  they  desired,  and  to  the  enjoyment  of  which 
they  had  a  most  rightful  claim— when,  instead  of  granting  them  thath- 

2 


14  MOTES- 

berty,  the  emperor  sought  to  crush  them  by  the  authority  of  imperial 
edicts,  and  the  force  of  the  secular  power — the  Elector  of  Saxony,  and 
the  confederate  princes  of  the  Retbrmaiion  met  at  Smalcald,  1530 — 31, 
and  entered  into  a  solemn  league,  in  which  they  bound  themselves  vigor- 
ously to  defend,  even  to  the  shedding  of  their  blood,  that  religion  and 
those  liberties  which  the  power  and  bigotry  of  Rome  were  menacing  witli 
destruction.  This  confederation,  in  itself  most  wise  and  reasonable,  prov- 
ed an  eminent  mean,  in  the  hand  of  that  Providence  which  watched  over 
the  interests  of  the  Reformation,  in  consolidating  the  energies  of  the  Re- 
formed, in  augmenting  their  zeal,  and  furthering  in  a  very  great  degree 
the  momentous  cause  in  which  they  had  embarked.  To  its  influence, 
especially,  may  be  traced  the  peace,  so  favorable  to  the  Protestants  that 
in  1532  was  concluded  at  Nurembesg — in  which,  v.'hile  they  promised  to 
aid  the  emperor  in  his  war  against  the  Turks,  and  to  acknowledge  Fer- 
dinand as  lawful  king  of  the  Romans,  the  emperor  engaged  to  abrogate 
the  edicts  formerly  made  against  the  Reformed,  and  to  grant  them  the 
free  and  unmolested  enjoyment  of  their  rehgious  rights. 

11.  "In  proving  that  the  Reformation  prevented  this  country  from  fall- 
ino"  under  a  despotic  government,  I  might  gather  abundant  evidence 
iTom  the  histories  of  France  and  Spain.  The  causes  which  abolished  the 
feudal  system  in  England,  abolished  the  same  system  in  those  countries. 
What  was  the  result  ?  In  both  co\intries  the  government  became  despo- 
tic. Both  countries  had  their  pai-liaments ;  but  in  Spain,  this  parliament, 
or  cortes,  was  never  permitted  to  assemble,  and  in  France,  the  parlia- 
ments were  allowed  merely  a  judicial  authority.  While  the  Huguenots, 
or  Protestants,  abounded  hi  France,  there  was,  indeed  a  virtual,  though 
not  a  constitutional,  check  to  the  royal  power;  but  after  they  v;ere  ban- 
ished by  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantz,  civil  liberty  was  unknown 
in  that  country.  Both  France  and  Spain,  till  the  recent  revolution,  groaned 
beneath  the  double  oppression  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  and 
such  would  have  been  the  case  with  England,  had  it  not  been  for  the  glo- 
rious Reformation." 


12.  The  period  of  English  history  above  alluded  to,  is  beyond  all  doubt 
the  most  momentous  through  wliich  England  has  passed.  Never  were 
the  civil  and  religious  rigliTs  of  a  people  in  a  more  awful  peril,  and  never 
was  there  a  more  honorable  contest  than  that  which  was  carried  on  in 
their  defence.  The  patriots  of  those  days — particularly  the  parliaments 
— merit  to  be  esteemed  the  saviours  of  their  country,  and  to  be  had  in 
grateful  remembrance  to  the  latest  age.  ''  In  the  history  of  the  world, 
we  shall  perhaps  discover  few  instances  of  pure  and  genuine  patriotism, 
equal  to  that  which,  during  the  reigns  of  James  and  Charles,  was  dis- 
played by  those  leading  nieihbersoi"  parliament,  who  persevered  with  no 
less  temper  than  steadiness,  in  opposing  the  violent  measures  of  the  court. 
The  higher  exertions  of  public  spirit  are  often  so  contrary  to  common 
feehngs,  and  to  the  ordinary  measures  of  conduct  in  private  life,  that  we 
are  in  many  cases  at  a  loss  whether  to  condemn  or  to  admire  them.  It 
may  also  be  remarked,  that,  in  the  most  brilliant  examples  of  heroism, 


NOTES. 


f  he  splendor  of  the  achievement,  at  the  same  time  lliat  it  dazzles  the 
beholder,  elevates  and  supports  the  mind  of  the  actor,  and  enables  him 
to  despise  the  difficuh.ies  and  the  dangers  with  which  he  is  surrounded. 
When  Brutus  tookawaj^  the  life  of  Caesar,  he  ran  counter  to  those  ordi- 
nary rules  which  bind  society  together ;  but,  to  perform  a  great  service* 
to  our  country  by  means  that  are  altogether  unexceptionable,  merits  a 
purer  approbation,  and,  if  the  action,  while  it  is  equally  pregnant  with 
dangers,  procures  less  admiration  and  renown,  it  afibrds  a  more  unequi- 
vocal and  convincing  proof  of  true  magnanimity  and  virtue.  Wlien  Hamp- 
den, by  an  appeal  to  the  law^s  of  his  country,  exposed  himself  to  the  fury 
of  Charles  and  his  ministry,  he  violated  no  friendship,  he  transgressed  no 
duty,  public  or  private:  and,  while  he  stood  Ibrth  to  defend  tlie  cause  of 
liberty,  he  must  have  been  sensible  that  his  elforts,  if  ineffectual,  would 
soon  be  neglected  and  Ibrgotten  :  and  that,  >  ven  if  successfid,  they  were 
less  calculated  to  procure  the  applause  of  his  contemporaries,  than  to  ex- 
cite the  admiration  and  esteem  of  a  grateful  posterity.  To  the  illustrious 
patriots  who  remained  unshaken  during  this  period,  we  are  in«lebted  in  a 
good  measure,  for  the  preservation  of  that  freedom  which  was  banished 
from  most  of  the  other  countries  of  Europe.  They  set  the  example  of  a 
constitutional  resistance  to  the  encroachments  of  prerogative ;  accommo- 
dated their  mode  of  defence  to  the  variations  in  the  stateof  society  which 
the  times  had  produced ;  and  taught  the  House  of  Commons,  by  a  judi- 
cious use  of  their  exclusive  right  of  taxation,  to  maintain  and  secure  the 
riffhts  of  their  constituents." 


13.  The  history  of  the  introduction  of  the  Reformation  into  this  coun- 
try, is  peculiarly  interesting,  and  cannot  be  read  by  a  Christian  without 
intense  feehng.  Formidable  was  the  opposition  which  it  had  to  encoun- 
ter, and  marvellous  was  the  train  of  events  by  which,  under  Divine  Pro- 
vidence, that  opposition  was  overcome.  Her  monarch,  Gustavus  Vass, 
was  the  Reformer  of  Sweden ;  nor,  perhaps,  was  there  ever  a  prince  in 
whose  history  the  beautiful  prediction  of  Old  Testament  Scripture — so 
full  of  joy  to  the  church  of  Christ — more  eminently  received  its  fulfil- 
ment: "Thou  shalt  suck  the  milk  of  the  Gentiles,  and  shalt  suck  the 
breast  of  kings — Kings  shall  be  thy  n'arsing-futhers,  and  their  queens  thy 
nursing-mothers." 


14.  Beneficial  as  has  been  the  efiect  of  the  Reformation  on  Protestant 
Germany,  it  was  the  occasion  of  the  consolidation  of  the  power  and  ty- 
ranny of  Austria.  "Whether,  the  establishment  of  Austrian  despotism 
would  or  would  ngt  have  been  effected  by,  other  means,  certain  it  is,  that 
immediate  occasion  was  given  to  it  by  the  Reformation.  And  tliis  is  a 
remarkable  instance  of  that  mixture  of  evil  with  good  which  commonly 
attends  the  noblest  of  human  transactions.  We  are  not  masters  of  conse- 
quences and  events.  And  if  we  were  to  attenipt  to  impose  it  on  ourselves 
as  a  law  to  abstain  from  accomplishing  a  ^reat  good,  because  it  might  be 
attended  with  some  evil,  we  must  cease  altogetiier  to  think  of  benefiting 
mankind.  The  general  timidity  of  men  preserves  them  steadily  enough 
from  risking  too  much.   Tliis  is  a  very  powerful  agent.    They  seldom  at- 


16  NOTES. 

tempt  the  accomplishment  of  a  great  good,  where  evils  of  any  magni- 
tude are  apparent,  except  the  motiv'^e  be  very  urgent,  and  they  teel  them- 
selves stimulated  by  the  presence  of  worse  evils  than  any  they  have  to 
apprehend.  The  oppression  of  the  church,  and  the  impending  ruin  of 
their  liberties  by  the  emperor,  were  greater  evils  to  the  German  princes 
and  people,  than  the  conflict  they  had  to  sustain  in  opposing  the  two  des- 
pots. The  inhabitants,  however,  of  the  emperor's  own  dominions,  suffer- 
ed by  this  effort  towards  Uberty.  Occasion  was  taken  of  it,  as  always  is 
of  every  effort  tOAvards  hberty  which  is  not  successful,  to  fasten  the  claims 
of  a  double  slavery  more  strongly  upon  them.  At  the  time  of  the  Re- 
formation, his  dominions  were  probably  the  freestin  Europe.  The  peo- 
ple retained  in  their  own  hands  exclusively  the  rioht  of  taxation — ai)d 
Charles  obtained  no  supplies  but  by  consent  of  the  Cortes  or  States  of  his 
dominions ;  which  always  supplied  him  very  scantily.  But  great  powers 
were  entrusted  into  his  hands  tor  the  suppression  of  the  Reformation.  He 
claimed  and  solicited  them  for  this  object,  which  he  represented  as  most 
sacred  and  important.  The  people  foolishly  consented  to  them,  not  re- 
flecting on  the  consequences.  And  by  these  powers  were  their  liberties 
destroyed.  The  efforts  of  the  emperor  against  the  great  revolution  were 
in  vain;  but  they  were  too  successful  against  his  own  people  ;  and,  at  this 
moment,  the  states  over  which  he  ruled,  groan  under  the  heaviest  and 
most  destructive  despotism."  With  all  this,  however,  the  Reformation 
cannot  be  blamed.  These  were  consequences  repugnant  to  its  genuine 
spirit,  the  very  reverse  of  those  which  it  was  calculated  to  produce.  How 
different  might  have  been  the  condition  of  Germany,  how  different,  espe- 
cially, might  have  been  the  condition  of  the  Austrian  people,  if  the  Re- 
formation had  been  permitted  to  extend  to  them  its  meliorating  influence '? 
The  histories  of  England,  Scotland,  the  Lower  Countries,  and  other  con- 
tinental nations,  are  lasting  proofs,  that  exactly  in  proportion  as  the  Re- 
f )rmation  has  been  successfully  estabUshedj  civil  liberty  has  blessed  the 
world. 


15.  "  I  was  much  struck,  with  the  solitary  appearance  of  Constance,  a 
town  once  so  flourishing  in  commerce,  and  so  celebrated  in  the  annals  of 
history.  There  was  a  dead  silence  throughout — grass  growing  in  the 
principal  streets.  Formerly,  by  the  assistance  of  Zurich  and  Berne,  it 
had  embraced  the  Reformation.  But  being  obliged  to  submit  to  the  em- 
peror, and  to  re-admit  the  Roman  religion,  trom  this  period  it  lost  inde- 
pendence, fell  by  degrees  into  its  present  alm.ost  annihilated  state,  and 
exhibits  to  some  of  the  neighboring  Swiss  Cantons,  an  instructive  con- 
trast, which  cannot  but  the  more  sensibly  endear  to  them  the  commerce 
and  the  liberties  which  they  enjoy.  The  town  of  Gall  is  generally  Pi^o- 
testant,  and  its  government  is  aristocratical.  Every  thing  in  this  town 
was  alive  ;  and  all  wore  the  appearance  of  industry  and  activity,  exhib- 
iting'  a  striking  opposition  to  Constance.  During  the  present  and  pre 
ceding  century,  the  Protestants  in  the  Canton  of  Glarus  have  increased 
<*.onsiderably  in  number,  and  their  industry  in  every  branch  of  commerce 
is  greatly  superior."  "  Zurich  Protestant  is  looked  up  to  as  one  of  the 
most  independent  of  the  Cantons.    'J'he  inhabitants  are  industrious,  and 


NOTES- 


IT 


rarry  on  with  success  several  different  branches  of  manufacture  •  and 
there  is  no  town  in  Switzerland  where  letters  are  more  encourao-ed  or 
cultivated  with  greater  success."—"  Lucerne  is  the  first  in  rank  and 
power  among  the  Papal  Cantons.  The  Pope's  Nuncio  resides  here.  'I'hn 
town  scarcely  contains  3000  inhabitants,  has  no  mannfactures  of  any 
consequence,  and  little  cummerre.  As  to  learning,  it  no  where  meets 
with  less  encouragement,  and  consequently  is  no  where  less  cultivated 
What  a  contrast  to  Zurich!"—"  The  Canton  of  Solcure contains  between 
40,000,  and  50,000,  all  Papists.  The  trade  is  of  little  value,  although 
they  are  commodiously  situated  for  carrying  on  an  extensive  com- 


merce.' 


16.  On  the  morning  after  the  night  in  which  the  cruel  and  bigoted 
Duke  of  Savoy  made  his  last  assauh  upon  Geneva — in  which  he^was 
signally  defeated— the  celebrated  Theodore  Beza— then  very  old,  and 
very  deaf— being  apprised  of  the  victory  they  had  gained— lor  he  knew 
nothing  ot  the  transaction  till  it  was  past — was  carried  to  his  pulpit,  and 
gave  out,  to  be  sung  by  the  citizens  assembled  to  offer  thanksgiving  to 
Almighty  God  for  their  protection,  the  hundred  and  twenty  fourth  Psalm. 
This  was  the  last  public  service  performed  by  this  great  and  good  man. 

17.  '•'  Geneva,  has  been  often  called  the  capital  of  Protestantism,  and 
she  deserves  the  name.  The  whole  of  Protestant  France  held  a  constant 
communication  with  this  small  city,  formerly  so  rich  in  illustrious  men  : 
it  was  the  centre  of  all  religious  education,  theseminary  of  all  the  clergy, 
and  the  general  library  of  all  Protestantism.  The  persecuted  ProtestaiJts 
in  the  Cevennes,  Poiton,  and  Brittany,  when  they  fled  to  this  city — the 
only  asylum  in  the  countries  of  their  language  which  remained  open  to 
their  faith — fell  down  on  their  knees,  when  they  discovered  its  spires  from 
the  tops  of  the  mountains,  and  gave  thanks  to  Go  that  he  had  preserv- 
ed, upon  the  frontiers  of  their  country,  a  place  where  they  could  freely 
adore  and  serve  him.  Geneva  was  the  city  lor  all  the  French  Calvinists, 
and  she  strove  to  render  hersell"  worthy  of  this  nobie  title.  Situated  on 
the  confines  of  three  countries,  and  three  languages,  always  ready  to 
receive  the  lights  of  Germany  and  of  England,  and  to  transmit  them  to 
France,  and  to  Italy,  Geneva  was,  with  respect  to  this  last  country,  the 
only  state  which  thought  of  carrying  there  the  lights  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. In  the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  under  the  King  ol  Sardinia,  there  have 
always  been  a  small  people,  poor,  sober,  and  laborious,  who  profiiss  Pro- 
testantism. The  Vaudois  of  the  valleys  of  Lucerne,  of  Peyrouso,  and 
of  Pragelet,  owe  to  the  benevolent  influence  of  the  Reformation,  a  libe- 
ral education,  a  universal  acquaintance  with  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  a 
probity  and  loyalty,  which  will  not  be  found  in  the  rest  of  Italy.  The 
descendants  of  the  first  preachers,  and  the  first  victims  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, having  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  even  before  the  time  of 
Wicklifie  or  John  Huss,  have  not  degenerated  from  tlieir  forefathers;  yet 
they  are  nothing  more  than  mountaineers ;  there  is  no  city  among  them 
as  a  centre  of  illumination ;  regular  instruction  is  unattainable  among 
them ;  and  they  have  no  printing-press  to  multiply  books  of  religion, 

<4 


18  NOTES. 

Geneva  is  the  capital  of  the  Vaudois,  as  she  is  that  of  the  Protestants  in 
France.  It  is  there  they  come  for  instruction ;  it  is  there  that  their  minis- 
ters come  to  learn  theology;  it  is  through  it  that  they  stand  connected 
with  the  world ;  it  is  of  great  importance  to  the  Protestant  interest  in 
Europe,  that  there  be  in  the  centre  of  the  Continent  a  free  and  an  inde- 
pendent city  speaking  the  French  language — a  city  enlightened,  and 
which  enjoys  a  high  reputation  in  literature  and  in  rehgion,  where  the 
pure  doctrine  of  the  Reformation  is  freely  taught,  freely  discussed,  and 
purely  reunited  to  that  constant  progress  of  knowledge  and  philosophy, 
which  distinguished  the  countries  in  which  the  Enghsh  and  German  lan- 
guages are  spoken,  but  which,  without  Geneva,  would  be  excluded  from 
the  countries  where  French  is  spoken.  It  is  by  Geneva  that  harmony 
can  be  maintained  between  those  free  countries  where  the  Protestant 
church  is  dominant,  and  those  countries  where  liberty  is  insecure,  or 
where  the  Protestant  church,  forming  only  a  feeble  minority,  may  be 
led  astray,  corrupted,  or  enslaved.  By  means  of  Geneva,  French  books, 
calculated  to  maintain  the  noble  spirit  of  Protestantism,  may  be  written 
and  printed ;  from  Geneva  will  proceed  preachers,  who  unite  French  elo- 
quence to  the  surer  and  more  powerful  authority  of  philosophy  and 
reason." 

18,  The  ruling  powers  of  France  were  opposed  to  the  Reformation : 
but,  notwithstanding  their  formidable  opposition,  the  reformed  doctrines  . 
made  early  and  rapid  progress  in  that  country.  By  persecutions,  and 
wars,  and  massacres,  did  their  enemies  seek  to  extirpate  them  :  but  in . 
vain.  The  opposition  which  they  experienced  served  to  further  the 
cause,  and  to  consolidate  the  energies  of  the  Protestants.  They  fought 
for  their  liberties  and  they  obtained  them,  and  the  Edict  of  Nantz  seem- 
ed to  indicate  the  commencement  of  a  milder  government,  and  a  wiser 
policy  in  the  French  monarchs.  Alas !  The  Protestants  were  persecuted 
both  'secretly  and  openly,  till,  at  length,  the  perfidious  revocation  of  their 
guardian  Edict,  completed  the  destruction  of  their  once  flourishing  and 
their  glorious  church,  of  more  than  two  thousand  congregations,  and 
sealed  the  doom  of  unhappy  France.  How  difterent  might  have  been 
her  condition,  and  consequently  the  condition  of  Europe,  if  her  monarchs, 
yielding  to  the  voice  of  truth  and  of  their  people,  had  embraced  the  Re- 
formation ! 


CHAPTER    II. 


1.  It  was  not  merely  in  times  of  darkness  that  these  anathemas—so 
infinitely  unlike  the  ordinances  of  the  God  of  mercy— were  issued  forth 
by  the  arrogant  and  wicked  mortals  who  assumed  to  themselves  the  cha- 
racter of  the  vicegerents  of  Jesus  Christ.  Times  of  comparative  light 
and  of  recent  date,  have  been  disgraced  by  them  ;— demonstrating,  that 
the  lapse  of  ages  has  not  meliorated,'  even  in  the  smallest  degree,  the 
ruthless  system  that  gave  them  birth. 

DAMNATION  AND  EXCOMMUNICATION  OF  ELIZABETH, 
QUEEN  OF  ENGLAND,  AND  HER  ADHERENTS. 

Pius,  for  a  perpetual  memorial  of  the  matter. 

I.  He  that  reigneth  on  high,  to  whom  is  given  all  power  in  Heaven 
and  on  Earth,  committed  one  Holy,  Catholic,  and  Apostolic  Church  out 
of  which  there  is  no  salvation  to  one  alone  upon  earth,  to  Peter  the  Prince 
of  the  Apostles,  and  to  Peter's  successor  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  to  be  go- 
verned in  fullness  of  power.  Him  alone  he  made  prince  over  all  people, 
and  all  kingdoms,  to  pluck  up,  destroy,  scatter,  consume,  plant,  and 
build,  that  he  may  retain  the  faithful,  that  are  knit  together  with  the 
band  of  charity,  in  the  unity  of  the  Spirit,  and  present  them  spotless 
and  unblamable  to  their  Saviour,  In  discharge  of  which  function,  we 
who  are,  by  God's  goodness,  called  to  the  government  of  the  aforesaid 
church,  spare  no  pains,  laboring  with  all  earnestness,  that  unity  and  the 
religion,  which  the  author  thereof  hath  for  the  trial  of  his  children's 
faith,  and  for  our  amendment,  suffered  to  be  exercised  with  so  great  af- 
flictions, might  be  preserved  uncorrupted. 

II.  But  the  number  of  the  ungodly  hath  gotten  such  power,  that  there 
is  now  no  place  left  in  the  whole  world,  which  they  have  not  essayed  to 
corrupt  with  their  most  wicked  doctrines.  Amongst  others,  Elizabeth, 
the  pretended  Queen  of  England,  a  slave  of  wickedness,  lending  there- 
unto her  helping-hand,  with  whom,  as  in  a  sanctuary,  the  most  perni- 
cious of  all  men  have  found  a  refuge,  this  very  woman  having  seized  on 
the  kingdom,  and  monstrously  usurping  the  place  of  the  Supreme  Head 
of  the  church  in  all  England,  and  the  chief  authority  and  jurisdiction 
thereof,  hath  again  brought  back  the  same  kingdom  into  miserable  des- 
truction, which  was  then  newly  reduced  to  the  faith,  and  to  good  order. 
I'or  having  by  strong  hand,  inhibited  the  exercise  of  the  true  religion, 


20  NOTES. 

which  Mary  the  lawful  Queen,  of  famous  memory,  had,  by  the  help  of 
this  See,  restored,  after  it  had  been  formerly  overthrown  by  King  Henry 
VIII.,  a  revolter  therefrom,  and  following  and  embracing  the  errors  of 
heretics,  she  hath  removed  the  royal  council,  consisting  of  the  English 
nobility,  and  filled  it  with  obscure  men,  being  heretics  ;  hath  oppressed 
the  embracers  of  the  Roman  faith,  hath  placed  impious  preachers,  mi- 
nisters of  iniquity,  and  abolished  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  prayers,  fast- 
ings, distinction  of  meats,  a  single  life,  and  the  rites  and  ceremonies ; 
hath  commanded  books  to  be  read  in  the  whole  realm,  containing  mani- 
fest heresy,  and  impious  mysteries  and  institutions,  by  herself  entertained 
and  observed,  according  to  the  precept  of  Calvin,  to  be  likewise  observ- 
ed by  her  subjects ;  hath  presumed  to  throw  bishops,  parsons  of  churches, 
and  other  priests,  out  of  their  churches  and  benefices,  and  to  bestow 
them  and  other  church-livings  upon  heretics,  and  to  determine  of  church 
causes ;  hath  prohibited  the  prelates,  clergy,  and  people,  to  acknowledge 
the  church  of  Rome,  or  obey  the  precepts  and  canonical  sanctions  thereof: 
hath  compelled  most  of  them  to  condescend  to  htT  wicked  laws ;  and  to 
abjure  the  authority  and  obedience  of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  to  ac- 
knowledge her  to  he  sole  lady,  in  temporal  and  spiritual  matters,  and 
this  by  oath ;  hath  imposed  penalties  and  punishments  on  those  who 
obeyed  not,  and  exacted  them  of  those  who  persevered  in  the  unity  of 
the  taith,  and  their  obedience  aforesaid  ;  and  hath  cast  the  Roman  pre- 
lates and  rectors  of  churches  into  prison,  where  many  of  them,  being 
spent  with  long  languishing  and  sorrow,  have  miserably  ended  their  lives. 
III.  All  which  things,  seeing  they  are  manifest  and  notorious  to  all 
nations,  and  by  the  greatest  testimony  of  very  many  so  substantially 
proved,  that  there  is  no  place  at  all  left  for  excuse,  defence  or  evasion  i 
we,  seeing  that  imparities  and  wicked  actions  are  multiplied  one  upon " 
another ;  and,  moreover,  that  the  persecution  of  the  fahhful,  and  afflic- 
tion for  religion,  groweth  every  day  heavier  and  heavier,  through  the 
indignation  and  means  of  the  said  Elizabeth :  because  we  understand 
her  mind  to  be  so  hardened  and  indurate,  that  she  hath  not  only  con- 
temned the  godly  requests  and  admonitions  of  princes,  concerning  her 
healing,  and  conversion,  but  also  hath  not  so  much  as  permitted  the 
Nuncios  of  this  See  to  cross  the  seas  into  England,  are  ibrced  of  neces- 
sity to  betake  to  the  weapons  of  justice  against  her,  and  not  being 
able  to  mitigate  our  sorrow,  that  we  are  constrained  to  take  punishment 
upon  one,  to  whose  ancestors  the  whole  state  of  Christendom  hath  been 
so  much  bounden. 

IV.  Being  therefore  supported  with  his  authority,  whose  pleasure  it 
was  to  place  us,  though  unequal  to  so  great  a  burden  in  this  supreme 
throne  of  justice,  we  do,  oul  of  the  fulness  of  our  Apostolic  power,  de- 
clare the  aforesaid  Elizabeth,  being  a  heretic,  and  a  favorer  of  heretics, 
and  her  adherence  in  the  matter  aforesaid,  to  have  incurred  the  sentence 
of  anathema,  and  to  be  cut  off  from  the  unity  of  the  body  of  Christ. 
And,  moreover,  we  do  declare  her  to  be  deprived  of  her  pretended  title 
to  the  kingdom  albresaid,  and  of  all  dominion,  dignity,  and  privilege 
whatsoever :  and  also  the  nobility,  subjects,  and  people  of  the  said  king- 
dom, and  all  others  which  have  in  any  sort  sworn  unto  her,  to  be  forever 


NOTES.  v.] 

absolved  Irom  any  such  oath,  and  all  manner  of  duty,  of  doniinion,  alle 
giance,  and  obedience ;  as  we  also  do,  by  the  authority  of  these  presents, 
absolve  them,  and  do  deprive  the  same  Elizabeth  of  her  pretended  title 
to  the  kingdom,  and  all  other  things  aforesaid.  And  we  do  command 
and  interdict  all  and  every  one  ol  the  noblemen,  subjects,  people,  and 
others  aforesaid,  that  they  presume  not  to  obey  her,  or  her  admonitions, 
mandates,  and  laws;  and  those  who  shall  do  the  contrary,  we  do  inno- 
date  with  the  like  sentence  of  anathema. 
Given  at  Rome,  in  the  year  1570. 

i:XCOMMUNtCATION  PRONOUNCED  BY  PHILIP  DUNN,  AGAINST  FRANCIS  FREE- 
MAN, WHO  EMBRACED  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH  IN  1765,  FOUND  AMONG 
THAT   prelate's    PAPERS    IN    HIS    HOUSE,    WICKLOW. 

By  the  authority  of  God  the  Father  Almighty,  and  the  blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  and  of  Peter,  and  Paul,  and  all  the  Holy  Saints,  we  ex- 
("ommunicate  Francis  Freeman,  late  of  the  county  ot  Dublin,  but  now  of 
Juckmill,  in  the  county  of  Wicklow,  that,  in  spite  of  God,  and  Peter, 
and  in  spite  of  all  the  Holy  Saints,  and  in  spite  of  our  most  Holy  Father 
the  Pope,  God's  vicar  on  earth,  and  in  spite  of  Philip  Dunn,  our  dioce- 
san and  worshipful  Canons,  who  serve  God  daily,  hath  apostatised  to  a 
most  damnable  religion,  full  of  heresy,  and  blasphemy;  excommunicated 
let  him  be,  and  dehvered  over  to  the  devil,  as  a  perpetual  malefactor  and 
schismatic ;  accursed  let  him  be  in  all  cities,  and  all  towns,  in  fields,  in 
ways,  in  yards,  in  houses,  and  in  all  other  places,  whether  lying  or  ris 
ing,  walking  or  running,  leaning  or  standmg,  waking  or  sleeping,  eat- 
ing or  drinking,  or  whatsoever  thing  he  does  besides :  we  separate  him 
from  the  threshold  and  all  good  prayers  of  the  Church ;  from  the  parti- 
cipation of  the  Holy  Jesus ;  from  all  sacraments,  chapels  and  altars ; 
from  the  Holy  bread  and  holy  water;  from  all  the  merit  of  God's  holy 
priests  and  religious  men ;  and  from  their  cloisters,  and  all  pardons,  pri- 
vileges, grants,  and  immunities  which  all  the  Holy  Popes  have  granted 
them ;  and  we  give  him  over  utterly  to  the  fiend  ;  and  let  him  quench 
his  soul  when  dead  in  the  pains  of  Hell  fire,  as  this  candle  is  quenched 
and  put  out ;  and  let  us  pray  to  God,  our  Lady,  Peter  and  Paul,  that  all 
the  senses  of  his  body  may  fail,  as  now  the  light  of  this  candle  is  gone, 
except  he  come,  on  sight  hereof,  and  openly  confess  his  damnable  heresy 
and  blasphemy,  and  by  repentance  make  amends,  as  much  as  in  him 
lies,  to  God,  our  Lady,  eter,  and  the  worshipful  company  of  this 
Church ;  and  a>  the  staff  of  this  holy  cross  now  falls  down,  so  may  he, 
except  he  recants  and  repents.  Philip  Dunn. 

DREADFUL  FORM  OF  EXCOMMUNICATON  DENOUNCED  AGAINST  THE  POPE's 
alum-maker,  who,  HAVING  ABANDONED  HIS  HOLINESS,  INTRODUCED  THE 
SECRETS   OF   HIS   TRADE   INTO    ENGLAND. 

"  By  the  authority  of  God  Almighty,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, 
and  of  the  holy  Canons,  and  of  the  Immaculate  Virgin  Mary,  the  Mo- 
ther and  Patroness  of  our  Savionr  ;  and  all  the  celestial  virtues,  angels, 
archangels,  thrones,  dominions,  powers,  cherubims,  and  seraphims;  and 


22  NOTES. 

of  all  the  holy  patriarchs  and  prophets;  and  of  all  the  apostle?,  and 
evangelists;  and  of  all  the  holy  innocents,  who,  in  the  sight  of  the  Lamb, 
axe  found  worthy  to  sing  the  new  song ;  of  the  holy  martyrs  and  holy 
confessoi's ;  and  of  the  holy  virgins,  and  of  all  the  saint.?,  and  together 
with  all  the  holy  and  elect  of  God,  we  excommunicate  and  anathema- 
tize tliis  thief  or  this  malefactor  N :  And  from  the  thresholds  of  the  holy 
Church  of  God  Almighty,  we  sequester  him,  that  he  may  be  tormented, 
disposed,  and  delivered  over  with  Dathan  and  Abiram,'and  with  those 
who  say  unto  the  Lord  God,  Depart  from  us,  for  we  desire  not  the  know- 
ledge of  thy  ways.  And  as  lire  is  quenched  with  water,  so  let  the  light 
fjf  him  be  put  out  for  evermore,  unless  it  shall  repent  him.  and  he  make 
satisfaction.     Amen. 

May  God  the  Father,  who  created  man,  curse  him.  May  the  Son, 
who  suffered  for  us,  curse  him.  May  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  was  given 
for  us  in  baptism,  curse  him.  May  the  Holy  Cross,  which  Christ,  for 
our  Salvation,  triumphing  ascended,  curse  him.  May  the  holy  and 
Eternal  Virgin  Mary  curse  him.  May  Michael,  the  advocate  of  holy 
souls,  curse  him.  May  John,  the  chief  forerunner  and  baptist  of  Christ, 
curse  him.  May  the  holy  and  wonderful  company  of  Martyrs  curse  him. 
May  Peter,  Paul,  Andrew,  and  all  other  Christ's  Apostles,  together 
with  the  rest  of  his  disciples,  and  four  evangelists,  curse  him.  May  the 
holy  choir  of  the  holy  Virgms,  who,  for  the  honor  of  Christ,  have  des- 
pised the  things  of  the  world,  curse  him.  May  all  the  Saints,  who  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world,  to  everlasting  ages,  are  found  to  be  the  be- 
loved of  God,  curse  him.  May  the  heaven  and  earth,  and  all  the  holy 
things  therein  remaining,  curse  him.  May  he  be  cursed  wherever  he 
be,  whether  in  the  house  or  in  the  field,  or  in  the  high  way,  or  in  the 
path,  or  in  the  wood,  or  in  the  water,  or  in  the  church.  May  he  be  curs- 
ed in  living,  in  dying,  in  eating,  in  drinkmg,  in  being  hungry,  in  being 
thirsty,  in  tasting,  in  sleeping,  in  slumbering,  in  lying,  in  working,  in 

resting, and  in  blood-letting.    May  he  be  cursed  in  all  the 

powers  of  his  body.  May  he  be  cursed  within  and  without.  May  he  be 
cursed  in  the  hair  of  his  head.  May  he  be  cursed  in  his  brain.  May 
he  be  cursed  in  the  crown  of  his  head ;  in  his  temples  ;  in  his  forehead  ; 
in  his  ears;  in  his  eye-brows;  in  his  cheeks;  in  his  jaw-bones;  in  his 
nostrils ;  in  his  fore-teeth  and  grinders ;  in  his  lips,  in  his  throat ;  in  hi> 
shoulders ;  in  his  ^vrists ;  in  his  arms ;  in  his  hands ;  in  his  fingers ;  in 
Ills  breast ;  in  his  heart ;  and  in  all  the  interior  parts  to  the  very  stom- 
ach ;  in  his  veins ;  in  his  reins ;  in  his  groins ;  in  his  thighs : 

in  his  lips;  in  his  knees;  in  his  legs;  in  his  feet;  in  his  joints;  and  in 
his  nails.  May  he  be  cursed  in  the  whole  structure  of  his  members. 
From  the  crown  of  his  head  to  the  sole  of  the  foot.  IMay  there  be  no 
^soundness  in  him.  May  the  Son  of  the  living  God,  with  all  the  glory  ol' 
his  majesty,  curse  him ;  and  may  heaven  and  all  the  powers  that  move 
therein  rise  against  him,  to  damn  him  ;  unless  he  shall  repent  and  make 
lull  satisfaction.    Amen,  amen, — so  be  it." 


2.  The  influence  of  the  interdict  was  at  its  introduction  limited ;  but 
its  progress  kept  pace  with  Papal  power,  and  in  a  short  time  it  made 


NOTEa 

kings  and  nations  tremble.    Smaller  societies  were  at  first  the  objects  of 
Its  censure ;  and,  even  in  this  shape,  its  effects,  as  might  have  been  ex 
pected,  were  of  a  grievous  nature.  But  Papal  tyranny  stopped  not  here. 
Whole  parishes,  provinces,  and  the  most  powerful  nations,  were  in  thi- 
manner  made  to  experience  pontifical  wrath      Interdicts  were  at  dillci 
ent  times  hurled  against  France,    Germany,    Denmark,  Sweden,  Nur 
mandy,  Venice,  Flanders,  Rome  itself;  and  England,  during  tlie  reign 
of  John,  was  for  six  years  subjected  to  this  terrible  maniie^tatiun  of  the 
Pope's  displeasure. 

3.  Persecution  is,  undoubtedly,  the  most  dreadful  scourge  with  Avhich 
a  nation  can  be  visited.  It  strikes  at  the  root  of  every  public  and  do- 
mestic blessing;  it  destroys,  at  once,  prosperity  and  peace.  When 
princes  care  not  for  the  welfare  of  their  subjects,  but  barter  their  inter- 
ests and  their  lives  to  gratify  a  bigoted  and  aspiring  priesthood,  happi- 
ness flies  from  their  dominion — confidence,  the  important  band  which 
unites  society,  is  broken — commerce  is  stagnant — and  the  nation's  sta- 
bihty  sustains  a  disastrous  shock.  The  siiedding  of  the  blood  of  more 
than  fifty  thousand  of  the  best  of  his  subjects,  and  the  expellin<r  from  his 
dominions  of  many  thousands  more,  was  the  melancholy  price  which 
Charles  V.  paid  for  his  furious  attempts  to  retard  the  progress  of  the 
Reformation  in  the  Netherlands.  A  hundred  thousand  perilous,  of  the 
trading  part  of  the  community,  left  the  small  ill-fated  land,  under  the 
sanguinary  government  of  the  Duke  of  Alva — multitudes  of"  Avhom  ob- 
tained refuge  and  a  settlement  in  England,  and  contributed  much  to  the 
propriety  of  her  manufactures,  and  the  increase  of  her  wealth.  It  was 
the  mournful  confession  of  Philip  II. — one  of  the  most  bigoted  persecu- 
tors that  ever  existed — that  the  wars  he  had  waged  for  the  extirpation  of" 
heretics,  cost  him  almost  six  hundred  millions  of  ducats ;  and  that,  with 
the  exception  of  the  ac(iuisition  ot'  Portugal — a  poor  requital  indeed — lie 
had  spent  his  wealth  and  labor  for  no  permanent  advantage.  Incalcula- 
ble was  the  mischief  inflicted  on  France  by  the  many  cruel  persecutions 
of  which  she  had  been  the  scene';  but  all  her  preceding  fosses  were  noth- 
ing hi  comparison  of  those  which  she  sustained  in  consequence  of  that 
faial  act  of  treachery — the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantz.  "  In  vain 
were  orders  given  to  guard  the  frontiers,  and  all  the  coasts,  against  those 
who  thought  it  their  duty  to  flee.  Nearly  50.000  families,  in  three  jears' 
time,  left  the  kingdom,  and  were  afterwards  followed  by  others.  They 
carried  with  them  among  strangers,  arts,  manufactures,  riches.  Almot^t 
all  the  north  of  Germany,  acountiy,  before,  wild  and  void  of  industry, 
assumed  a  new  appearance  tlom  the  numbers  transplanted  thither.  One 
quarter  of  the  suburbs  of  London  was  entirely  peopled  with  Frenchmen, 
workers  hi  silk  ;  others  carried  there  the  art  of  finishing  crystals,  wliich 
was  then  lost  in  France.  The  gold  is  yet  to  be  found  very  common  in 
Germany,  which  the  refugees  dispersed  there.  Thus  France  lost  above 
five  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  a  prodigious  quantity  of  wealth,  and, 
above  all,  the  arts,  with  wliich  her  enemies  were  enriched.-' 


4  NOTES. 

4.  There  is  not,  in  ail  liistory,  a  more  appalling  narrative  than  that 
which  relates  to  the  Bartholomew  Massacre.  The  memorial  of  this  hor- 
rible catastrophe  will  go  down  and  testify  to  distant  generations,  that 
the  promises  of  Papists  are  perfidious,  that  their  tender  mercies  are  cmeL 
Peace,  and  friendship,  and  union,  seemed  to  be  firmly  established  between 
them  and  the  Protestants ; — the  court  of  France  seemed  to  have  laid  aside 
its  hostility ; — and,  more  than  ever  had  been  the  case,  were  those  of  the 
Reformed  faith  honored  and  caressed.  Alas  !  it  was  a  calm  dreadfully 
ominous — a  moment  of  sunshine,  tlie  melancholy  presage  of  an  awful 
storm.  Assured  of  safety,  by  the  pledged  oath  of  their  monarch,  the 
chief  of  the  Protestant  nobility  repaired  to  Paris  to  celebrate  the  nuptials 
of  the  King  of  Navarre  with  the  sister  of  Charles — nuptials  which  were 
joyfully  hailed  by  the  Protestants  as  the  bond  of  mutual  amity  between 
those  of  the  two  religions.  O,  Popery  !  what  bloody  nuptials  didst  thou 
render  them  Not  yet  was  the  ceremony  solemnized,  when  the  Protestant 
Q,ueen  Dowager  of  Navarre  was  destroyed  with  a  pair  of  poisoned  gloves. 
Then,  at  the  dead  hour  of  night,  tolled  the  great  bell  of  Paris — the  pre- 
determined signal  of  desti-uction — and  the  French  capital  became  a  scene 
of  carnage.  The  commission  given  to  the  murderers  had  been,  "  Not  to 
,^pnre .'"  and  they  fulfilled  -it  with  dreadful  precision.  Bands  of  hired 
ruffians  marched  from  street  to  street,  and  entered  the  dwelliiigs  of  those 
who  were  doomed  to  die.  No  reverence  was  shown  to  the  Ijoary  head, 
no  respect  was  paid  to  talent  or  to  rank  ;  the  helplessness  of  childhood  was 
not  pitied,  the  beauty  of  woman  was  not  spared.  Seven  days,  with  una- 
bated fury,  did  the  carnage  last, — during  which  time  the  streets  of  the 
French  metropolis  are  said  to  have  literally  run  with  blood.  Nor  was 
Paris  alone  the  scene  of  this  detestable  barbarity.  Letters  had  been  sent 
by  the  perfidious  court  to  the  chief  cities  of  the  kingdom,  comniandmg 
the  Papists  in  these  places  to  begin  a  massacre  of  the  Protestants  on  the 
.^•ame  night,  and  at  the  same  hour.  Most  faithfully  were  these  mandates 
obeyed.  In  Orleans,  Angers,  Troyes,  Meaux,  Bourges,  Toulouse,  Ly- 
ons, La  Charite,  and  Rouen,  were  the  Protestants,  who,  at  that  time, 
dreamed  of  any  thing  but  persecution,  suddenly  and  furiously  assailed, 
and,  for  several  months,  made  the  victims  of  most  shocking  and  unpa- 
ralleled atrocities.  Seventy  thousand  persons — according  to  the  lowest 
computation — among  whom  were  the  brave  and  pious  Admiral  Coligni, 
and  more  than  five  hundred  noblemen  and  gentlemen  of  rank,  were  mas- 
sacred on  this  melancholy  occasion;  and  the  Duke  of  Sully  declares  in 
his  "  Memoirs"  that  he  had  documents  in  his  possession,  which  made  it 
evident  that  the  court  of  France  had  sent  letters  to  tiie  neighbouring 
courts,  earnestly  requesting  them  to  follow  its  infernal  example  ! 

Oh  how  it  aggravates  the  pain  with  which  the  details  of  this  hor- 
rid transaction  are  remembered,  to  think  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  tidings  of  its  accomplishment  were  received  at  Rome  !  "  When  the 
letters  of  the  Pope's  legate  were  read  in  the  assembly  of  the  cardinals, 
declaring  that  all  was  transacted  by  the  will  and  express  command  of  the 
king,  it  was  immediately  decreed  that  the  Pope  and  cardinals  should 
march  in  solemn  procession  to  the  church  of  Mark,  and  give  thanks  to 
(rod  for  so  great  a  blessing  conferred  on  the  See  of  Rome  and  on  the 


NOTES.  35 

Christian  ^vorld :  that,  on  {.lie  Monday  thcrcafier,  solemn  mas?  sliould  be 
celebrated,  at  which  the  Pope,  Gregory  XIII.,  and  cardinals,  should  be 
present ;  and  that  a  jubilee  should  be  published  throucrhout  Christendom, 
as  a  thanksgiving  to  God  for  tlie  happy  extirpation  ol'  their  enemies  in 
France !  In  the  evening,  the  cannon  oi"  Angelo  v/ere  fired  to  testify  "the 
])ublic  joy,  the  whole  city  was  illuminated  with  bonfires,  nor  wag  any 
token  of  rejoicing  omitted  that  was  usually  employed  lor  the  greatcvf. 
victories  obtained  in  favor  of  the  Roman  church  !" 

The  bigoted  and  perfidious  monarch  who  had  been  the  prime  agent  in 
these  horrid  transactions,  was  not  permitted  to  escape  even  in  this^vorld 
the  righteous  judgment  of  God.  "His  singular  death,  was  regarded 
by  his  contemporaries  as  a  remarkable  instance  of  divine  justice.  He. 
who  had  been  the  means  of  spilling  the  blood  of  seventy  thousand  of  his 
fellow  creatures,  found  liis  blood,  in  an  unheard-of  manner,  bursting  from 
his  veins."  He  died  amid  the  agonies  of  dreadful  remorse,  an  awlul  mo- 
nument of  the  vengeance  which,  sometimes  even  on  earth,  attends  the 
])ersecutors  of  the  church  of  God. 

5.  The  number  of  monks  and  nuns  throughout  Christendom,  was 
doubtless  far  greater  than  that  which  we  have  supposed.  One  of  her  ec  ■ 
clesiastical  historians  computes  the  number  in  France,  at  the  end  of  th(^ 
seventeenth  century — a  period,  'posterior  to  the  Reformation,  and  in 
which,  of  course,  the  ranks  of  monastics  were  greatly  thinned — at  up- 
wards of  two  hundred  tiiousand  !  England,  at  the  timeot  the  suppression 
of  the  monasteries  by  Henry  VIII.,  contained  fifty  thousand  :  and  one 
of  the  pontiffs  was  accustomed  to  boast,  that  he  ImA  forty-four  thousand 
monasteries  at  his  command ! 

6.  The  idolatry  of  relics  seems  to  have  talcen  its  rise  from  the  honor  \\\ 
which  the  martyrs  of  the  primitive  ages  were  held,  and  to  have  been  de- 
signed to  perpetuate  the  remembrance  of  their  names  and  actions.  The 
bodies  of  the  earliest  martyrs  left  behind  them  on  the  earth — not  the 
splendid  monument,  or  the  marble  tablet — but  the  grateful  hearts  of 
weeping  multitudes.  It  was  not  till  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century 
that  they  vcere  regarded  as  holy  relics.  We  find  on  record  the  censure 
of  Athanasius  against  this  practice;  but,  notwithstanding  his  reraon- 
.'^trances,  the  tombs  of  departed  saints  were  impiously  violated,  and  their 
bones  triumphantly  carried  in  proce-ssion.  The  l^mb  of  a  martyr  soon 
became  the  adopted  child  of  the  growing  superstition,  and  miracles  of 
every  description  were  alleged  to  have  been  performed  by  tlic  legs  and 
xirms  of  the  dead.  The  bones  of  beasts,  or  of  any  creature,  v>diich  an 
impostor  could  lay  hold  of,  were  purchased  with  avidity,  as  being  the  re- 
mains of  the  virtuous  dead.  In  this  manner,  the  objects  of  religious 
liomage  were  multiplied  to  a  prodigious  extent,  and  happy  did  he  pro- 
nounce himself  who  was  able  to  procure  a  ))article  of  holy  dust.  When 
this  could  not  be  obtained,  and  it  is  difficult  to  conjecture  how  bones 
enough  could  not  be  found  to  supply  every  person,  since  those  of  a  mouse 
required  no  more  than  the  touch  of  a  priest  to  be  metamorphosed  into 
the  parings  of  Peter's,  any  thing  which  had  come  in  contact  with,  or 
ev^n  approached  the  body  of  a  saint,  was  eagerly  enrolled  among  the 


26  NOTES. 

• 
objects  of  veneration.  '■  The  parings  of  a  martyr's  nails,  served-  the  pur- 
pose, or  the  polling  of  his  hair  ;  and  when  these  were  too  difficult  an  ac- 
quisition, some  handkerchief  would  haply  be  found,  or  cowl,  or  slipper,  or 
firdle,  or  comb,  or  cord,  or  hatchet ;  some  rag  of  wool,  or  sackcloth  ;  or 
.some  lucky  stone,  or  chain,  or  spear,  or  nail,  or  gridiron,  v^'hereby  he  had 
sufter«:d,  or  some  filings  of  these  at  least ;  all  of  them,  like  artificial  mag- 
nets, fit  substitues  for  the  original,  having  acquired  the  same  sanctity 
and  miraculous  virtue  at  second-hand."  In  different  places,  and  at  the 
same  time,  the  tombs  of  holy  men  were  worshipped.  The  face  of  John 
Baptist,  for  example,  is  to  be  seen  at  Jean  Angeli,  the  rest  of  his  head 
at  Malta,  his  skull  at  Nemours,  his  jaw-bone  at  Vesulium,  his  forehead 
at  Salvador, — and  yet  his  whole  head  is  exhibited  in  Rome,  and  at 
Amiens  in  France,  and  at  Ghent  in  Flanders  I  The  finger  wherewith 
he  pointed  to  the  Saviour,  is  produced  at  Besancon,  at  Thoalouse,  at 
Bourgesj  and  at  Florence  I 

7.  If  the  monastic  institutions  were  the  means  of  preserving  from 
destruction  any  of  the  ancient  manuscripts,  this  took  place  rather  from 
accident  than  "design  ;  for,  the  monks  were  the  chief  promoters  of  that 
io-norance  by  which  the  neglect  of  classical  learning  was  occasioned — 
:ind  the  greatest  destroyers  of  ancient  manuscripts,  who  did  a  thousand 
times  more  injury  to  the  interests  of  literature,  than  any  other  class  of 
men  in  the  w^orld.  The  writings  of  the  bards,  and  other  sages  of  Greece 
and  Rome,  were,  in  many  instances,  carefully  obliterated,  that  the  ma- 
terials on  which  they  were  written  might  serve  the  lying  purpose  of  re- 
cording the  penances  of  some  devotee,  or  the  miracles  of  some  samt !  In- 
deed, Tf  the  art  of  printing  had- not  been  discovered,  and  if,  in  combina- 
tion v/ith  it,  the  reformation  in  religion  had  not  exerted  its  auspicious  in- 
fluence, the  monastaries  would  haveproved  the  tomb  of  classic  lore ;  and 
the  means  of  inflicting  upon  literature  a  calamity,  compared  with  which, 
even  the  alleo-ed  excesses  of  the  Reformation  would  have  been  as  noth- 


8.  The  effect  of  holidays  on  Spain  may  serve  as  a  specimen  of  the 
other  Popish  nations.  The  sura  lost  to  Spain,  every  feast  day,  by  the 
suspension  of  labor  in  trade,  manufactures,  and  agriculture,  amounts  to 
four  millions  of  livres.  At  this  rate,— and  supposing  the  number  of  fes- 
tivals on  which  labor  is  entirely  suspended,  to  be  no  more  than  forty — a 
number,  much  below  the  truth — the  annual  deficiency  to  Spain,  in  point 
of  wealth,  Avill  amount  to  thirty  millions  of  dollars ! ! 

9.  The  festivals  of  the  saints  were  said  to  be  guarded  from  secular  bu- 
siness, not  only  by  the  authority  of  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  powers  on 
earth,  but  also  by  the  vindictive  jealousy  of  the  saints  in  heaven.  The 
fierce  deities  of  the  Pagan  world  were  not  more  dreadful  in  their  resent- 
ment against  the  profaners  of  their  consecrated  days,  than  were  ihe  mild 
saints  of  the  Christian  world  against  those  by  whom  theirs  were  profaned. 
A  Roman  poet  assures  us  thai  certain  royal  ladies,  having  ventured  to 
spin  on  the  feast  of  Bacchus,  were,  for  tliat  crime,  transformed  into  bats  ! 
In  classic  times,  we  find  many  instances  of  similar  revenge.     Sternness 


NOTES.  27 

* 
was  the  prominent  featua-c  in  the  character  of  (he  Heathen  Gods  ;  and 
this  feature  we  are  prepared  to  find  embodied  in  their  actions\  But,'  from 
the  saints  of  a  religion  whose  prominent  feature  is  love,  we  naturally  ex - 
])ect  conduct  of  a  milder  cast.  Alas !  our  expectations  are  vain.  In  the 
legends  of  Rome,  we  find  the  saintly  character  learfuUy  vindictive  and 
unrelenting.  A  man  who  got  a  shirt  made  on  the  day  of  the  Assump- 
tion of  our  Lady,  Ibund  it,  when  about  to  put  it  on,  oversprinkled  with 
blood!  He  had  reason  to  congratulate  himself  that  it  happened  to  be  the 
day  of  Our  Lady,  for  the  other  saints  would  not  have  allrjwed  him  to 
escape  so  easily.  A  poor  wood-feller,  having  gone  out  one  day  to  cur 
wood,  as  he  was  raisinir  u])  his  axe  to  give  the  stroke,  heard  a  voice  cry- 
ing, three  times,  "  It  is  my  feast,  it  is  not  permitted  to  work,"  j>ut  con- 
tinuing his  work  notVv^ithstanding,  both  his  hands  stuck  fast  to  the  han- 
dle of  the  axe !  But  the  fate  of  poor  Peter  an  ox-driver,  was  still  more 
awful :  it  happened  that,  inadvertently,  he  greased  his  waggon  on  the 
day  of  Mary  Magdalene,  and,  inmiediately,  he  beheld  his  waggon  and 
oxen  consumed  by  fire  from  heaven,  and  was  himself  scorched  In  a  most 
miserable  manner  1! 

10.  The  pretended  efficacy  of  indulgences  was  not  confined  to  liviiif^ 
men,  it  extended  also  to  the  dead.  An  indulgence  might  be  procured  o7i 
behalf  of  departed  souls,  in  virtue  of  which  they  would  obtain  reliel 
from  the  excruciating  torments  of  the  purgatorial  state,  and  be  admitted 
into  the  felicity  of  heaven.  One  cannot  help  admiring  the  artful  polic}' 
with  Avhich  evei-y  part  of  the  Pontifical  system  is  contrived,  and  how  al- 
most all  its  doctrines  are  made  subservient  to  the  rapacity  of  its  impious 
chiefs.  Of  thii>,  the  invention  of  the  doctrine  of  p)urgaiory,  in  connex- 
ion with  that  of  indulgences,  is  a  striking  illustration.  Experiment  could 
he  made  as  to  the  value  and  the  efficacy  of  ghostly  brills,  in  reference  to 
temporal  calamities ;  but  this  could  not  be  so  easily  done  in  reference  to 
their  success  in  the  unseen  state.  Artfullj^,  therefore,  did  they  contrive 
the  fable  of  an  intermediate  state  of  punishment,  and  it  was  owing  to  the 
belief  of  this  absurdity,  that  the  doctrine  of  indulgences  proved  to  be  so 
lucrative.  The  fiery  lake  was  first  of  all  created,  and  souls  were  plunged 
into  it,  that  the  priests  might  have  the  pleasure,  or  rather  the  projit]  ol" 
fishing  them  out  again.  Some  are  indulged  so  far  as  not  to  go  there  at 
all ;  while  other  poor  soids  are  left  to  welter  there  for  thousands  of  years, 
without  any  pity  from  the  merciless  priests,  for  no  other  sin  of  them  or 
their  surviving  friends  than  the  damnable  one  of  poverty ! 

A  celebrated  preacher  of  the  fifteenth  century,  in  discoursing  of  the 
]iains  of  purgatory,  and  exhorting  his  audience  to  contribute  liberally  for 
the  redemption  of  such  as  sulfered  them,  assured  the  people  that  the  tor 
mented  souls  heard  the  sound  of  the  moijey,  when  it  fell  into  the  basin, 
and  no  sooner  did  it  play  tin,  tin,  tin,  than  they  burst  into  laughter,  hci. 
lia,  ha!  hi,  hi,  hi! 

11.  A  man  convicted  of  a  multitude  of  crimes,  souglit  impunity  for  all 
] lis  enormities  at  the  foot  of  the  altar.  The  viceroy  Gelves  caused  him  to 

he  dragged  from  thence-     This  act  of  necessary  justice  was  construed       I 
into  airoutrao"e  against  the  divinitv.     The  thunder  of  excommunication 


28  NOTES. 

was  immediately  sent  forth,  and  the  people  rose.  The  regular  and  sec- 
ular clergy  took  up  arms ;  the  palace  of  the  commander  was  burnt ;  hi^- 
guards,  triends,  and  partizans  were  put  to  the  sword ;  he  himself  was 
put  in  irons,  and  sent  to  Europe,  with  seventy  gentlemen,  who  had  not 
been  afraid  to  espouse  his  cause.  The  archbishop,  who  was  the  cause 
of  all  these  calamities,  and  whose  vengeance  was  not  yet  satisfied,  pur- 
sued his  victim  with  the  wish  and  desire  of  sacrificing  him.  The  court- 
after  having  hesitated  for  some  time,  decided  at  length  in  favor  of  fanati- 
cism. The  defender  of  the  rights  of  the  throne  and  of  order,  was  con- 
demned to  total  oblivion,  and  his  successor  was  authorized  solemnly  io 
consecrate  all  the  notions  of  superstition,  and  particularly  the  superstition 
of  asylums. 

At  Turin,  in  1732,  a  soldier  on  the  parade  shot  the  captain  of  hi.^ 
company  dead  in  the  ranks,  and  walked  deliberately  into  a  church. 
Here  he  was  safe,  as  long  as  the  monks  were  pleased  to  protect  him,  atxl 
tlie  king  dared  not  to  proceed  against  him.  After  many  intreatics,  the 
monks  did  indeed  turn  him  ont,  and  he  was  broken  alive  on  the  wheel ; 
but  in  all  this  there  was  implied  a  degrading  acknowledgement  of  their 
power  to  screen  even  the  most  atrocious  ofienders.  "  The  practice  of 
assassination,  so  frequent  in  Italy,  was  at  first  occasioned  by  the  number 
of  asylums.  If  a  ruffian  were  to  assassinate  my  neareivt  relative,  and  ruj  t 
to  one  of  these  asylums,  he  is  safe ;  should  he  afterwaj'ds  obtain  absolu- 
tion, he  may  then  walk  the  streets  in  perfect  safety.  What,  then,  must 
I  patiently  bear  this  ?  No,  1  w^ill  kill  him  in  return,  and  run  to  an  asylum 
myself  In  this  way,  assassination  probably  commenced,  till  it  became 
so  .o-eneral  that  it  was  no  longer  disgraceful.-' 


12.  On  the  subject  of  Indulgences,  Gandolphy,  a  Roman  Priest  pub- 
lished a  work,  approved  by  the  highest  ecclesiastical  authorities  at  Rome. 
Sanctioned  as  it  is  by  the  head  of  the  Papal  church,  it  demonstrates  that 
Poi>eTyTs  unchanged  by  the  lapse  of  ages, — that  its  features  are,  at  this 
mom.ent,  not  one  whit  less  revolting  than  they  appeared  in  the  twelfth, 
or  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  that  her  opinion,  in  reference  to  the 
doctrine  of  indulgences,  has  undergone  no  alteration.  Having  quoted, 
as  the  warrant  foT-  that  doctrine,  the  declarations  and  the  examples  oi' 
many  pontilTs,  the  decrees  of  many  councils,  and  particularly  these  words 
of  the  Council  of  Trent — "  The  power  to  grant  indulgences  has  been 
given  to  tlie  church  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  use  of  them  is  beneficial  to 
salvation ;  and  the  power  ought  to  be  retained,  yet,  nevertheless,  used 
with  moderation,  lest  ecclesiastical  discipline  should  be  weakened  by  an 
over  great  facility :" — he  then  states  the  grand  principle  on  which  the 
doctrme  is  founded  :  "  All  the  good  works  of  the  just  have  a  double  value, 
in  the  sight  of  God, — one  of  merit,  the  other  of  satisfaction  ;  that  is,  one 
giving  a  title  to  recompense  hereafter,  the  other  constituting  an  equiv^a- 
lent  lor  the  temporal  punishment  of  sin.  Thus  every  good  work  has  a 
double  claim  on  the  bounty  of  God,  one  in  quality  of  merit,  the  other  in 
quahty  of  satisfaction,  and  as  the  satisfaction  arising  out  of  the  good 
works  of  the  saints  far  exceeds  their  temporal  debt  to  the  justice  of  God, 
it  becomes  a  balance  in  lavor  of  the  church,, which,  through  the  infinite 
mercies  of  Jesus  Christ,  she  is  authorised  to  apply  to  the  exigencies  ol" 


»  NOTES.  20 

Iier  other  children.  -'  Whatsoever  ye  shall  loose  on  earth  shsU  be  loorsed 
hi  heaven."  Which  treasure,  derived  from  tlie  virtues  of  the  sainfp, 
through  the  superabundant  merhs  of  Jesus  Christ,  forms  an  inexliuusti- 
ble  stock  of  satisfaction,  which  the  church,  and  the  chief  pastor,  are  em- 
powered to  apply  to  the  general  advantage  of  the  faithful.  •'  Peter  feed 
my  lambs,  feed  my  sheep."  Moylan,  of  Cork,  issued  on  a  late  occasion, 
a  Declaration  of  Plenary  Indulgence  and  Jubilee,  for  the  building  of  ci 
Popish  Cathedral  in  Cork.  In  the  Letter  which  lie  issued  in  this  case, 
he  proclaimed,  in  imitation  of  the  example  of  Leo  X,  and  of  his  present 
master,  the  reigning  Pope,  not  only  the  remission  of  temporal  censures, 
but  of  the  future  punishments  of  sin  in  the  world  to  come  !  This  letter 
he  ordered  to  be  publicly  read,  in  every  chapel  of  his  diocese,  on  fbui- 
successive  Sundays.  His  Jubilee  continued  about  a  whole  month,  on 
account  of  the  multitudes  who  came  from  all  parts  to  take  advantage 
of  the  Plenary  Indulgence,  or  full  remission  of  sins ;  and  it  is  stateTl, 
that  "  the  pecuniary  payments  required  of  those  who  came  to  receive 
the  indulgence,  though  reduced  so  low  as  twopence  to  each  person  of  tho 
lower  order  in  the  vast  crowd,  amounted  to  a  large  sum  !"  In  his  Letter 
are  found  the  following  words  of  expostulation  with  his  flock,  in  refer- 
ence to  the  indulgence  :  "  It  is  written,  that  God  will  hear  us  in  the. 
acceptable  time  !  Ah !  profit  of  them.  Be  reconciled  to  your  offended 
God.  If  you  neglect  this  grace,  if"  you  suffer  this  holy  time  of  indulgence 
to  pass  without  profiting  by  it,  there  is  every  reason  to  fear  that  thi-. 
time  of  God's  mercy  shall  pass  from  you  never  more  to  return  !  Were 
your  sins  as  red  as  scarlet,  by  the  grace  of  the  absolution,  and  tlie  appli- 
cation of  this  plenary  indulgence,  your  souls  shall  become  white  as 
snow  r' 

13.  Peace  was  given  to  Germany,  and  the  liberty  of  professing  their 
religion  to  the  Protestants,  by  the  arrangements  wliich  were  agreed  on 
betAveen  the  Emperor  Charles  and  the  princes  of  the  Reformed  faith, 
and  which,  in  1532,  were  ratified  in  the  Diet  at  Ratisbon.  But  the 
Pope  was  offended  beyond  measure  on  account  of  the  concessions  which 
had  been  made  to  the  Protestants,  and  ceased  not  his  remonstrances  till 
they  were  revoked,  and  till  a  war  for  religion  was  rekindled.  In  the 
conclusion  of  that  war,  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  having  made  terms  of 
pacification  with  the  emperor,  was  in  violation  of  the  treaty,  and  of  the 
imperial  faith  which  had  been  pledged  to  him,  made  a  prisoner.  The 
Duke  of  Saxony,  resenting  the  perfidy,  had  again  recourse  to  arms,  ami 
brought  Charles  to  the  peace  of  Passau,  in  which  it  was  provided,  that 
nehher  party  should  be  injured  on  account  of  their  religion.  This 
treaty  was  confirmed  at  the  next  Diet  of  Augsburg.  Soon,  however,  it 
was  overturned.  War  was  rekindled,  and  the  Protestant  interest  was 
extinguished  in  Bohemia.  The  flame  spread  over  all  Germany,  and, 
indeed,  almost  throughout  Europe.  Furiously  did  it  rage  lor  thirty 
years,  filling  Germany  with  devastation  and  blood,  but  at  length  was 
terminated  by  the  peace  of  Westphalia.  It  was,  on  the  whole,  emi- 
nently favorable  for  the  Protestants,  securing  them  in  the  enjoyment 
of  many  a  privilege  which  they  had  long  contended  for  in  vain.    Agahist 

•J '" 


;J0  NOTES. 

It,  however^  the  Pope  solemnly  protested,  declaring  it  to  be  derogatoiy 
to  the  interests  of  the  church,  and  therefore  null  and  void.  Alas  I  mat- 
ters had  undergone  a  mighty  alteration  in  the  states  of  Europe,  else  hi:^ 
protestation  had  been  found  to  be  something  else  than  a  telum  imbelle. 
Dire  necessity  compelled  the  popish  princess  to  regard  the  treaty.  With  a 
multitude  of  indirect  infractions  of  it,  they  were  chargeable,  but  political 
reasons  weighed  with  them  to  prevent  its  open  and  positive  violation. 

The  same  arrogant  claims  are  still  made  by  the  pontiffs  on  behalf 
of  the  church ;  and  the  same  infamous  principle,  by  whose  operation  the 
states  of  Europe  were  formerly  afflicted  and  degraded ;  that  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  Pope  can  make  void  even  the  most  solemn  obligations,  would 
be  still,  if  it  were  possible,  most  rigorously  enforced.  In  the  treaty  Avhich 
was  concluded  in  1707,  between  the  Emperor  and  Charles  XII.  several 
concefsions  of  importance  were  made  to  the  Protestants.  At  this  the 
Pope  Clement  XI.,  was  full  of  indignation,  and  immediately  writing  to 
the  emperor,  condemned  it  in  the  following  terms :  '  We  do,  by  these 
presents,  denounce,  and,  by  the  authority  given  to  us  by  Almighty  God, 
we  declare,  that  the  foresaid  articles  of  the  Treaty  of  Alt  Ranstadt,  and 
the  other  things  contained  in  it,  which  hurt  the  ecclesiastical  authority, 
jurisdiction,  and  rights  whatsoever,  and  in  what  manner  soever,  v,'ith  all 
and  every  present  and  every  future  consequence  of  them,  have  been  from 
the  very  beginning,  are  now,  and  forever  shall  be,  null  and  void,  and 
that  no  one  is  bound  to  observ^e  them,  or  any  of  them,  even  although  they 
have  been  often  ratified  and  confirmed  by  oath !'  Still  more  presumptu- 
ous is  the  following  language  of  another  Pope:  "Urban  V.  &c.  Truly  it 
has  come  to  our  ears,  that  not  only  Winceslaus,  King  of  the  Romans, 
but  also  his  father,  Charles,  Emperor  of  the  Romans,  did,  either  con- 
junctly or  severally,  enter  into  certain  confederacies,  leagues,  &c.  v.'itli 
divers  kings  and  princes,  and  that  some  of  those  kings  and  princes,  either 
at  that  time  or  afterwards,  became  open  schismatics  or  heretics,  ami 
were  separated  from  the  unity  of  the  Roman  Church, — Therefore  we, 
considering  that  such  confederacies,  engagements,  leagues,  &c.  made 
with  those  who  had  become  schismatics  and  heretics,  are  rash,  unlawful, 
and,  of  very  deed,  null,  though  perhaps  they  were  made  before  the  lapse 
of  tliose  persons  into  schism  and  heresy,  notwithstanding  they  may  have 
been  confirmed  by  oath  or  promise,  or  the  apostolic  sanction,  or  streno;th- 
ened  by  any  other  authority  whatever : — we,  being  desirous  to  obviate 
the  danger  of  souls,  as  well  to  the  said  king,  as  to  all  others  whom  it 
does  or  may  concern,  do  therefore,  by  these  presents,  strictly  prohibit 
them  from  keeping  those  confederacies,  leagues,  or  conventions,  in  any 
part,  themselves,  and  from  allowing  them  in  any  manner  to  be  observed 
by  others  !  !"  The  same  pontiff  wrote  to  the  Abbot  of  Gall,  in  Switzer- 
land, respecting  a  treaty  which,  in  1718,  he  had  entered  into  with  the 
Protestant  canton  of  Berne,  telling  him,  among  other  things,  '■  that  he 
and  his  successors  were  not  bound  to  observe  the  articles  of  that  treaty, 
any  more  than  if  they  had  never  been  agreed  to."  Who  will  affirm,  in 
the  face  of  these  melancholy  facts,  that  the  atrocious  principle  of  not 
keeping  faith  with  heretics,  when  the  interest  of  the  church  requires,  and 
opportunity  permits  it  to  be  violated,  is  ziot  recognised  and  avowed  by 
the  Papal  See? 


CHAPTER  HI. 


1.  TRIUMPH  OF  POPERY  OVER  HUMAN  RELATIONSHIP. 

John  Diaz,  a  Spaniard,  having  studied  theology  for  some  time  ai: 
l^aris,  became  acquainted  with  the  Scripture?,  and  the  writings  of  the 
reformers,  and  embraced  their  doctrine.  He  went  first  to  Gene\Ti,  where 
he  cukivated  friendship  with  Calvin;  and  afterwards  to  Stnisburo-, 
where  he  became  t3ie  intimate  Iriend  and  coheagne  of  Bucer,  who  made 
him  accompany  him  to  the  diet  of  Katisbon.  He  had  there  an  inter 
view  with  Malvenda,  whom  he  had  formerly  known  at  Paris,  who  de- 
plored his  change;  and  professed  the  utmost  surprise  at  finding  him  en- 
gaged in  the  interests  and  society  of  Protestants,  who  would  triumph 
•more,  he  said,  in  having  proselyted  one  Spaniard,  than  some  thousands 
of  Germans ;  intreating  him  to  regard  his  reputation,  and  not  bring 
such  a  foul  stain  on  himself,  his  family  and  nation.  When  this  made 
T10  impression,  Malvenda  endeavored  to  Avork  on  his  fears,  representing 
the  great  power  of  the  Pope,  the  dreadful  nature  of  his  excommimica- 
tion,  the  wrath  of  Cesar,  &c.  But  Diaz,  unmoved  by  all  tliese  arts, 
boldly  avowed  and  vindicated  his  faith,  professing  his  resolution  to  abide 
by  the  true  religion,  to  whatever  dangers  he  might  be  exposed.  Where 
upon  Malvenda  immediately  gave  information  and  complaint  against 
liim  to  the  Emperor's  priest.  Alphonso,  the  brother  of  Diaz,  who  was 
a  lav»yer  in  the  court  of  Rome,  having  heard  of  his  heresy,  went  in 
haste  to  Ratisbon.  Not  finding  him  there,  he  posted  to  Newburg,  and 
renewed  all  the  entreaties  of  Malvenda ;  earnestly  invitino-  him  to  Rome, 
and  promising  a  yearly  salary,  provided  he  would  comply.  BalHed  in 
every  attempt,  the  subtle  advocate  confessed  that  he  was  overcome,  and 
pretended  the  highest  love  for  the  evangelic  doctrine,  but  expressed  a 
v/ish  that  his  brother  should  remove  with  Jiim  to  Italy,  where  he  mighl 
have  a  better  opportunity  of  spreading  the  doctrine  of  the  Reformation 
in  Naples,  and  of  extending  it  thence  into  his  native  country.  John 
overjoyed  at  the  change,  consulted  his  Protestant  friends,  v/ho  dissuad- 
ed him  from  complying  with  the  flattering  proposals.  Alphonso  then 
requested  that  his  brother  would  only  accompany  him  as  far  as  Augs- 
burg, but  this  he  also  declined.  Alphonso  at  length  took  his  leave,  alter 
professions  of  the  most  cordial  affection,  exhorting  his  brother  to  con- 
4aiicy,  and  declaring  himself  happy  in  having,  by  his  conversation,  in 


32  NOTES. 

a  few  days',  made  such  proficiency  in  the  true  knowledge  of  God.  Ht 
intreated  liim,  moreover,  to  write  to  him  5  and  obhged  him  to  accept  of 
some  money,  as  a  token  of  his  fraternal  kindness.  With  mutual  en 
dearments,  a.id  a  profession  of  tears  on  both  sides,  he  w^ent  into  his 
chariot  and  departed.  The  ialse  brother  had  not  proceeded  far,  when 
he  stopped  short,  hired  an  assassin,  procured  a  hatchet,  prepared  a  let- 
ter, and  drove  directly  back  to  Newburg,  where  he  arrived  early  in 
the  morning.  Leaving  his  horses  at  the  gates,  he  led  the  murderer  to 
the  house  of  his  brother,  and  sent  him  witli  the  letter,  while  he  watch- 
ed at  the  door,  that  nothing  might  prevent  the  execution  of  the  enter- 
prise. The  minister,  hearing  of  a  message  from  his  brother,  hastily 
rose  out  of  bed,  walked  to  the  next  chamber  in  his  cap  and  night-gown, 
received  the  letter  from  the  hand  of  the  messenger,  who  expressed  great 
solicitude  for  his  safety,  cautioning  him  against  Malvenda,  and  all  such 
enemies  of  the  gospel.  But  scarcely  had  he  begun  to  read,  when  the 
ruffian  from  behind  struck  him  with  the  hatchet,  and  cleft  his  head  in 
two,  even  to  his  shoulders,  so  that  he  instantly  fell  down  dead,  without 
attering  a  word.  The  assassin  left  the  bloody  weapon  sticking  in  the 
body,  and  fled  with  the  unnatural  monster  who  employed  him.  The 
murderers  w^ere  arrested,  but  the  Emperor  pretending  to  take  the  case 
•under  his  own  cognizance,  set  justice  at  defiance,  and  screened  the  sa- 
vage brother,  and  the  foul  perpetrator  of  the  horrid  crime  from  the  pu- 
nishment which  they  deserved.  Such,  Avhen  Popish  principles  take 
full  and  firm  hold  of  the  mind,  is  the  dreadful  length  to  which  they 
will  carry  their  abused  disciples. 

A  Roman  girl  lived  with  a  pious  baker ;  the  piety  of  the  family  so 
wrought  upon  lier,  that  she  began  to  read  the  Bible,  attending  family 
worship,  and  at  length  the  church.  This  coming  to  the  knowledge  ol" 
her  parents,  they  sent  for  her,  under  pretence  that  her  mother  was  very 
ill,  and  not  expected  to  live.  After  she  had  been  absent  some  days,  the 
baker,  apprehensive  that  she  had  been  inveigled  aAvay,  went  in  com- 
pany with  a  friend  to  her  parent's  house.  On  asking  for  her,  they  were 
told  that  she  had  left  home  for  some  days,  and  they  did  not  know  where 
she  was ;  but  while  they  were  speaking,  the  master  heard  the  girl's 
voice  expressive  of  distress,  and  it  turned  out,  that  she  was  locked  up 
without  food,  and  threatened  with  starvation,  if  she  did  not  abjure  her 
heresy,  and  return  to  the  Papal  church.  Finding  remonstrances  in  vain, 
he  determined  to  go  to  a  magistrate,  and  give  notice  of  the  girl's  capti- 
vity ;  but  on  the  way  he  and'  his  friend  were  assailed  by  a  mob  of  20C» 
persons,  who  cast  stone3  at  them,  beat  them  unmercifully,  and  at 
length  dragged  them,  bleeding  and  nearly  senseless,  into  a  chapel  be- 
fore an  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  vowing  that  the  heretics  should 
worship  it,  if  they  meant  to  escape  with  their  lives." 

2.  Under  the  pontificate  of  Paul  II.  a  bull  was  emitted  from  Rome 
respecting  the  conduct  of  the  clergy,  particularly  those  of  Spain,  in  re- 
ference to  the  sacrament  of  confession. — "  Whereas  certain  ecclesiastics 
in  the  kingdom  of  Spain,  and  in  the  cities  and  dioceses  thereof,  having 
the  cure  of  souls,  or  exercising  such  cure  for  others,  or  otherwise  deput- 
ed to  hear  the  confessions  of  penitents,  have  broken  out  into  such  hein- 
ous acts  of  iniquity,  a;^  to  abuse  the  sacrament  of  penance  in  the  very 


NOTES.  s'i 

act  ol'  hearing  the  confessions,  not  fearing  to  entice  and  provoke  female.- 
to  lewd  actiong,  at  the  very  time  vvlien  they  were  making  their  confer 
sions."— The  introduction  of  this  document  into  Spain,  brought  to  jjo-li; 
in  a  most  appalling  manner,  the  wretched  condition  into  which  doMiesiic 
society  had  been  reduced  by  the  influence  of  the  Papal  institutions.- 
When  this  bull  was  first  introduced  i.nto  Spain,  the  in(|uir~itor.s  publi.sJied 
a  solemn  edict  in  all  the  churches  belonging  to  Seville;  tliat  any  person 
knowing  or  having  heard  of  any  Iriar  or  cleroyman's  having  connnitted 
the  crime  oi'  abusing  the  sacrament  of  confession,  or  in  any  manner  hav 
ing  improperly  conducted  himself  daring  the  confessioji  of  a  female  peni 
tent,  should  make  a  discovery  of  what  he  knew,  within  thirty  days,  to 
the  holy  tribunal ;  and  very  heavy  censures  were  attached  to  those  who 
should  neglect  or  despise  this  injunction.  When  this  edict  was  first  pub- 
lished, such  a  considerable  number  of  lemales  went  to  the  palace  ol'tho 
inquisitor,  only  in  the  city  of  Seville,  to  reveal  the  conduct  of  their  infa- 
mous contiissors,  that  twenty  notaries,  and  as  many  inquisitors,  were  ap 
pointed  to  minntedown  their  several  informations  against  them :  but  these, 
being  found  insufficient  to  receive  the  depositions  of  so  many  witnesses  : 
and  the  inquisitors  being  thus  overwhelmed,  as  it  were,  with  the  pressun  ■ 
of  such  ahairs,  thirty  days  more  w^ere  allowed  for  taking  the  accusa- 
tions; and  this  lapse  of  time  also  proving  inadequate  to  the  intended 
purpose,  a  similar  period  was  gt anted,  not  only  lor  a  third  but  a  fourth 
time.  The  ladies  of  rank,  character,  and  noble  families,  had  adifRcull 
part  to  act  on  this  occasion,  as  their  discoveries  could  not  be  made  at  any 
particular  time  and  place.  On  one  side,  a  religious  fear  of  incurring  the 
threatened  censures,  goaded  their  consciences  so  much  as  to  compel  them 
to  make  the  required  accusations ;  on  the  other  side,  a  regard  to  their 
husbands,  to  whom  they  justly  feared  to  give  offence,  by  aflbrding  them 
any  motives  for  suspecting  th^nr  private  conduct,  induced  them  to  kee)) 
at  home.  To  obviate  these  difficulties,  they  had  recourse  to  the  measure 
of  covering  their  faces  with  a  veil,  according  to  the  fashion  of  Spain,  and 
thus  went  to  the  inquisitors  in  the  most  secret  manner  they  could  adopt. 
Very  few,  however,  escaped  the  vigilance  of  their  husbands,  who.  on 
being  informed  of  the  discoveries  and  accusations  made  by  their  wives, 
were  filled  with  suspicions  •  and  yet,  notwithstanding  this  accumulation 
of  proofs  against  the  confessors,  produced  to  the  in(iuisitors,  this  tri 
.  bunal,  contrary  to  the  expectations  of  every  one,  put  an  end  to  the 
business,  by  ordering  that  all  crimes  of  this  nature,  should  be  consigned 
to  perpetual  silence  and  oblivion  ! 

3.  An  Auto  da  fe,  or  act  of  Faith,  was  an  execution  by  the  authorit\- 
of  the  inquisition.  The  siglit  of  such  a  spectacle  was  horrible  in  the  ex^ 
treme:  and  the  very  meiiti/^n  of  its  atrocities,  with  the  callousness  and 
triumph  which  ihe  cruel  spectators  manifested,  would  make  a  mind  no' 
altogether  void  of  human  sensibility,  shudder.  The  unhappy  victims- 
alter  having  breathed,  lor  years  togellier,  tlie  pestilential  vapours  o»  ;■ 
solitary  dungeon,  and  after  enduring  the  most  excruciating  tor.mv.- 
which  malig'nity  could  suggest,  or  baibarity  inflict,  were  dragged  n-om 
their  scenes  of  misery,  given  over  to  the  civil  power,  as  hopeless  and  ita 
penitent,  and,  amid  circumstances  of  awful  solemnily,  comnntied-to  tho 


34  NOTES. 

flames.  On  tlie  preceding  festival,  or  Sunday,  intimation  of  the  ap 
preaching  execution  was  made  in  the  churches,  and  the  people  were 
invited  and  encouraged  to  be  present.  In  consequence,  the  ecclesiastic?? 
issued  from  the  convents  and  churches,  and  crowded  to  the  spot ;  the 
standard  of  the  Inquisition  Avas  unfurled,  the  heretics  in  sackcloth  mov- 
ed mournfully  along,  and  silence  was  not  interrupted,  save  by  the  toiling 
of  the  cathedral -bell,  Avhose  hollow  sound,  at  intervals,  falling  on  the  ear. 
announced  the  sad  business  of  the  day.  From  all  quarters  of  the  nation 
in  which  it  took  place,  and  even  from  other  lands,  did  the  princes  and 
the  grandees  resort  to  the  tragedy,  as  to  a  magnificent  entertainment. 
Phiir]3  II.  was  accustomed  to  enjoy  an  Auto-da-fe  as  much  as  a  theatri- 
cal exhibition,  and  one  Avas  actually  prescribed  to  Charles  II.  as  a  medi- 
cine and  cordial.  Ladies  also,  casting  off  tlie  sensibility  of  their  sex,  and 
trampling  on  the  common  feelings  of  humanity,  rejoiced  when  they 
should  have  Avept,  and  gloried  in  their  shame.  The  convulsions  of  ex- 
piring felloAV  creatures,  made  the  smile  of  triumph  to  play  upon  their 
countenance,  and  the  shrieks  and  groans  of  a  martyr  in  the  flames,  in- 
stead of  draAving  forth  the  sigh  of  female  commiseration,  only  served  to 
add  fuel  to  their  dismal  joy.  in  truth,  they  dared  not  Aveep,  Sympathy 
in  such  a  case  AA-as  no  A-enial  sin.  Philip  III.  for  giving  vent  to  his 
natural  feelings,  and  permitting  on  one  occasion  a  tear  to  tall  from  his 
eye,  forfeited,  in  expiation  of  his  crime,  a  drop  of  blood,  Avhich  Avas  taken 
from  him  by  the  Inquisitor-general,  and  burnt  by  the  common  execu- 
tioner. Grief,  therefore,  Avas  banished  from  the  spectators  of  these  atroci- 
ties. Joy,  tlie  joy  of  minds  degraded  and  brutalized,  beamed  in  every 
countenance,  and  every  heart  experienced  additional  delight  by  the  re- 
peated symptoms  of  agony  that  Avere  beheld  in  the  poor  sufferer.  The 
preacher  who  officiated,  A\'hen  the  grand  Auto-da-fe,  prescribed  to 
Charles  II.,  Avas  executed,  and  Avho,  if  tenderness  was  to  be  met  Avith, 
ought  to  ha\-e  possessed  it,  on  seeing  a  hundred  and  tAventy  persons  ready 
to  be  cast  into  the  fire,  exultingly  exclaimed,  "  Oh  !  thou  tribunal,  for 
boundless  ages  mayest  thou  keep  us  firm  in  the  faith,  and  promote  the 
punishment  of  the  enemies  of  God.  Of  thee  I  may  say  A\diat  the  Holy 
Spirit  said  of  the  church,  '  Thou  art  fair  my  love,  thou  art  fair  as  the 
tents  of  Kedar,  as  the  sightly  curtains  of  Solomon !'' 


4.    INTOLERANCE    OF    THE    PAPACY. 

It  Avas  not  merely  in  the  ages  of  darkness  that  preceded  or  oven  in 
the  times  of  contention  Avhich  folloAA-ed  the  Reformation,  that  intolerance 
■^vas  the  prominent  feature  iu  the  principle  and  practice  of  the  Paptd 
Ci^urch.  In  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries  has  it  been  mani- 
f'csted,  that  her  character  in  this  respect  is  unchanged.  Intolerance  ha.- 
been  aA-owcd  as  her  principle,  and  has  been  on  many  occasions  reduced 
lr-  practice.     A  fcAV  years  only  haA^e  elapsed,  since  the  predecessor  of  the 


NOTES.  -^5 

ialc  Poiitifi'  dcckircd,  '•  That  tlie  toleration  of  oilier  religions  U  incon- 
sistent with  the  doctrines  of  Rome."  It  is  a  fact,  that,  every  year  on 
the  Thursday  preccdin^^  Easter,  one  of  the  most  solemn  excoinmun'ica- 
tions  of  Rome  is  denounced,  in  which,  amid  circumstances  of  n-roat  ex- 
ternal pomp,  all  heretics,  and  schismatics,  and  all  persons  contumacion-- 
and  disobedient  to  the  Papal  See,  arc  anathematized.  In  this  siiKTular 
document,  which  is  a  stand  in  or  memorial  of  the  unabated  intoleraiice  of 
the  Papal  church,  are  the  foUowiiio;  sentences. 

III.—"  We  excommunicate  ancf  anathematize,  in  the  name  of  God 
Almighty,  Father,  Son.  and  Holy  Ghos!,  and  by  the  authority  of  the 
blessed  Apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  and  by  our  own  ;  all  Hussites,  Wick- 
liffites,  Lutherans,  Zuinglians,  Calvinists,  Hugonots,  Anabaptists,  Tri- 
nitarians, and  apostates  Irom  the  Christian  faith ;  and  all  other  heretics, 
by  whatsover  name  they  arc  called,  and  of  whatsoever  sect  they  be  ;  as 
also,  their  adherents,  receivers,  favorers,  and  generally,  any  defenders 
;f  them;  together  with  all  who,  without  our  authority,  or  that  of  the 
Vpostolic  See,  knowingly  read,  keep,  print,  or,  anyways,  lor  any  cause 
^vhatsoever,  pubhcly  or  privately,  on  any  pretext  or  cc'lor,  deleiid  their 
books  containing  heresy,  or  treating  ol"  religion  ;  as  also  schismatics,  and 
those  who  withdraw  themselves,  or  recede  obstinately  from  the  obedi- 
ence of  us,  or  the'  Bishop  of  Rome  lor  the  time  being." 

IX. — "  Farther,  we  excommunicate  and  anathematize  all  who,  by 
themselves  or  others,  give  intelligence  of  matters  relating  to  the  state 
of  Christendom,  to  tlie  Turks  and  enemies  of  the  Christian  religion,  to 
the  hurt  and  prejudice  of  Christians,  or  to  heretics,  to  the  prejudice  of 
Ihe  Popish  relig'ion^  or  who  anyways  aflbrd  to  them  counsel,  assistance, 
m:  favor,  notwithstanding  any  privileges  hitherto  granted  by  us,  and  the 
iilbresaid  See,  to  any  persons,  princes,  or  commonwealths,  wherein  ex- 
press mention  is  not  made  of  this  express  prohibition." 

XVII. — "  Also  all  those  who,  under  pretence  of  their  office,  or,  at  the 
instance  of  any  party,  or  of  any  otliers,  draw,  or  cause  and  procure  to  be 
drawn,  directly  or  indirectly,  upon  any  pretext  whatsoever,  ecclesiastical 
persons,  chapters,  convents,  colleges  of  any  churches,  before  them  to  their 
tribunal,  audience,  chancery,  council  of  parliament,  against  the  rules 
of  the  canon  law  ;  as  also  those,  who,  lor  any  cause,  or  under  any  pre- 
text, or  by  pretence  of  any  custom  or  privilege,  or  any  other  way,  shall 
make,  enact,  and  publish  any  statutes,  orders,  constitutions,  ])ragmatics, 
or  any  other  decrees  in  general  or  in  particular  ;  or  shall  use  them  when 
made  and  enacted,  whereby  the  ecclesiastical  liberty  is  violated,  or  any 
ways  injured  or  depressed,  or  by  any  other  means  restrained  ;  or  whereby 
the  rights  of  us,  and  of  the  said  See,  and  of  any  other  churches,  are  any 
way,  directly,  or  indirectly,  tacitly  or  expressly,  prejudged." 

The  claim  is  still  put  forth  by  the  Papal  See  on  behalf  of  its  clergy. 
that  they  should  be  totally  independent  of  the  civil  power  ! 

XIX. — "  Also  those  who  usurp  any  jurisdictions,  fruits,  revenues,  and 
emoluments  belonging  tons  and  the  Apostolic  Sec,  and  any  ecclesiastical 
persons,  upon  account  of  any  churches,  monasteries,  or  other  ecclesiasti- 
cal benefices  ;  or  who,  upon  any  occasion  or  cause,  se^iuester  the  said 
revenues,  without  the  express  leave  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  or  others  haw- 
ing lawful  power  to  doit." 


^6  '  .  x\OTES. 

All  Protestpju  govemirients  are  annually  placed  under  the  solcniii 
(■urse  of  the  Pa])al  Church. 

XXIX. — '•  Moreover,  that  the  processes  themselves,  and  these  pre- 
sent letters,  and  all  and  every  thinn^  contained  in  them,  may  become 
njore  manifest  by  beino;  published  in  many  cities  and  places ;  we,  by 
these  writings,  intrust,  and,  in  virtue  of  holy  obedience,  strictly  charg'e 
and  command  all  and  singular  patriarchs,  primates,  archbishops,  bishops, 
ordinaries  of  places,  and  prelates,  wheresoever  constituted,  that,  by 
tliemseives  or  some  other,  or  others,  after  they  shall  have  received  tliese 
present  letters,  or  have  knowledge  of  them,  they  solemnly  publish  thera 
in  their  churches  once  a  year,  or  oftener,  if  they  sec  convenient,  when 
the  greater  part  of  the  people  should  be  met  for  celebration  of  divine 
service  ;  and  that  they  put  faithlul  christians  in  mind  of  them,  relate 
'them,  and  declare  them."' 

Practical  demonstrations  have  been  given,  even  in  recent  times,  of 
Roman  intolerance.  "  By  an  edict  of  Louis  XV.  1724,  all  marriages 
not  celebrated  by  priests  ol  Rome,  are  declared  concubinage,  and  the 
children  of  such  marriages  bastards.  The  laws  of  France  also  ordain 
that,  before  marriage,  the  parties  shall  confess,  and  receive  the  Lord's 
Supper.  As  Protestants  could  not  do  this  without  renouncing  their  re- 
ligion; and  as,  since  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantz,^they  had 
been  deprived  of  their  churches  ;  their  marriages  were  solemnized  in 
the  open  fields,  and  hence  called  marriages  of  the  desert.  Many  are  the 
oppressions  they  have  on  this  account  endured.  The  tender  connection 
of  husband  and  wiie,  by  the  laws  of  tlie  state,  and  decisions  of  Parlia- 
ment, was  considered  as  infamous  ;  and  for  no  other  crime,  the  married 
persons  were  imprisoned,  sent  to  the  galleys,  or  by  exorbitant  fines  re- 
duced to  poverty.  Innocent  infants  Avere  condemned  to  the  shame  and 
UTetchedness  ol  being  accounted  children  of  uncleanness.  The  Papal  clergy, 
attended  by  bailiffs,  broke  into  houses  in  the  night,  destroyed  every  thing, 
tore  children  vdio  had  reached  four  years  of  age  from  the  bosoms  of  pa- 
rents, and  placed  them  under  the  direction  and  government  of  monks, 
parents  being  obliged  to  defray  the  charge  of  educating  them  in  a  reli- 
gion which  they  detested.  If  children  escaped,  the  father  was  forced  to 
pa}'  an  enormous  fine,  or  to  piue  away  in  a  gloom.y  dungeon.  From 
1751  to  1753,  many  such  hellish  scenes  were  transacted  in  a  nation, 
which  prides  itself  as  the  patron  of  humanity  and  politeness.  The  in- 
lendant  of  Languedoc  enjoined,  1751.  that  all  children  baptized  by  Pro- 
testants, should  be  rebaptized  in  the  Romish  church ;  and  that  the  mar- 
riages of  Protestants  should  be  rendered  legitimate  only  by  the  priest's 
subsequent  blessing.  Men  present  at  religious  assemblies  were  punish- 
ed with  the  galleys ;  \yomen  with  perpetual  imprisonm.ent ;  preachers 
with  the  halter.  Ii-istructions,  consolations,  and  sacraments,  were  pro- 
hibited to  Protestants.  Even  on  their  death-beds  they  were  tormented 
by  the  unwelcome  visits  of  monks  and  priests ;  and  when  they  heroically 
retained  to  the  last  breath  the  Protestant  faith,  their  dead  bodies  were 
dragged  through  tlie  streets,  and  thrown  upon  dunghills.  The  severe 
laws  from  which  these  evils  arose,  remained  unrepealed ;  and  the  exe- 
cution of  tliem  depended  on  the  humor  of  bisho])?,  an.d  their  attendants  • 


NOTES.  3: 

complaints  of  these  cruelties  were  considered  as  seditious  ;  and  escaping 
ihem,  by  leaving  the  kingdom,  was  not  allowed.  So  deeply  did  an  in- 
tolerant spirit  debase  human  nature,  and  produce  barbarities  which 
would  shock  a  Huron." 

"  In  the  memorial,  which  Pauli  Rabaut,  the  eldest  ot  tlie  Protestant 
ministers  at  Nismes,  presented  to  de  Paulmy,  lie  gave  a  hvely  picture 
of  what  his  brethren  in  Languedoc  had  suffered  for  ten  years  past.  At- 
tending religious  assemblies  was  punished  with  banishment,  imprison 
inents,  scourging,  the  galleys,  death.  Parties  ot  soldiers  attack  their 
defenceless  meetings,  and  wound,  maim,  or  kill  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren. Bibles  found  in  the  possession  of  any  were  burnt,  and  the  pos- 
sessors put  to  death.  Husbands,  Avives,  and  children  were  torn  from  one 
another's  arms,  that  the  children  might  be  rebaptized  and  educated  in 
Popery,  and  the  parents  compelled  to  renounce  their  religion.  By  the 
violence  of  the  soldiers,  massacres  were  committed  in  pnvate  houses ; 
and  many,  whom  they  seized,  were  hanged,  and  their  carcasses  cast  on 
the  dunghills.  All  this  happened,  says  he,  in  our  enlightened  country 
and  in  the  most  polite  and  civilized  nation.  It  is  no  wonder  that  despair 
drove  some  to  violent  measures  in  self-defence,  and  that  many  souo-ht 
safety  by  flight.  Their  bowels  were  rent,  by  taking  from  them  AvTiat 
in  the  world  was  dearest  to  them.  In  the  most  Christian  kingdom,  a 
dark  dungeon,  or  the  galleys,  or  death,  was  his  reward,  who  would  not 
live  as  an  atheist,  without  Avorshipping  God;  and  complaints  of  thi? 
l^arbarous  treatment  were  accounted  crimes."' 


CHAPTER  IV. 


1.  "  In  Antrim;  Armagh,  and  Londonderry,  the  number  of  educated 
children  is,  to  the  whole  population,  in  the  proportion  of  one  to  twelve  : 
and  these  are  peaceable,  quiet  counties.  But,  in  the  county  of  Limerick 
— Limerick,  well  known  by  its  atrocities  and  murders — What  is  the 
number  of  children  educated  there?  one  to  nme  hundred  and  seventy- 
seven  !  In  the  province  of  Ulster,  one  to  seventeen ;  and  in  Munster, 
one  to  five  hundred !" 

2.  "  We  might  have  lived  for  ever  in  peace  and  harmony,"  observed 
the  vicar  of  Constance,  "  though  there  had  been  never  such  a  thino;  as  a 
Bible ;" — and  Cardinal  Hosius  observed,  in  the  same  spirit,  "  that  the 
affairs  of  the  church  would  have  been  on  a  much  better  footing,  if  the 
Gospels  had  never  been  written."  Learning  fell  into  as  much  disrepute 
as  the  Bible  among  the  clero;y  of  the  old  establislim.ent.  "  To  understand 
Greek  rendered  a  man  liable  to  be  suspected  of  heresy,  and  Hebrew  ol" 
more."  In  1523,  the  magistrates  of  Lucerne  having  ordered  the  house 
of  Colinus,  a  learned  professor,  to  be  searched  for  heretical  books,  one 
of  the  monks  who  performed  the  office,  meeting  with  a  Homer,  called 
out,  "  This  is  Lutheran,  all  that  is  Greek  is  Lutheran  !" — "  There  is  a 
new  language  called  Greek,  invented  by  the  heretics,"  said  a  preacher 
to  his  congregation,  "  and  a  book  printed  in  that  language  called  the 
New  Testament,  which  contains  many  dangerous  things.  Hebrew  is 
another  new  language ;  whoever  learns  it  becomes  a  Jew  1 1" 

3.  Through  the  stillness  and  sullenness  of  that  awful  night,  indeed,  a 
solitary  star  did  sometimes  appear,  attempting  to  scatter,  in  some  faint 
degree,  the  surrounding  darkness  ;  and,  amid  the  great  intellectual  and 
moral  waste  which  the  world  in  those  ages  presented  to  view,  there 
does-  here  and  there  meet  t-lie  eye  a  green  spot,  on  which  we  love  to 
linger— just  as  the  wearied  traveller,  after  toiling  for  days  together 
among  the  horrors  of  an  African  desert,  lights  him,  at  last,  on  some  ver- 
dant spot,  enjoys  it  with  rapture,  and  leaves  it  with  reluctance,  casting 
back  T.0  it  many  a  longing,  lingering  look ! 

One,  of  the  few  celebrated  names  tliat  can  be  found  in  the  history  of 
the  dark  ages  is  that  of  Bacon.  This  great  man,  borne  up  by  the  vigor 
of  his  own  unaided  genius,  rose  superior  to  that  formidable  despotism 
which  had  withered  and  prostrated  the  minds  of  mankind  around  him, 
and  penetrated  into  the  regions  of  science  with  an  ardor  whicli,  under 


NOTES.  39 

more  auspicious  circumslancef^,  wou.ci  liave  been  proJuclive  of  splenditl 
results.  But  the  time  was  not  yet  come,  v/licn  scientific  studies  could 
be  prosecuted  with  impunity.  Bacon's  career  was  checked.  The  Pricst- 
liood  was  alarmed  lest  light  shoidd  enter,  and  disturb  the  peace  of  their 
dark  dominion.  The  pursuit  of  science  in  which  this  man  of  jrcnius 
ventured  to  engage,  was  viewed  with  suspicion  and  jealousy :  lie  was 
accused  of  having  correspondence  with  the  devil,  was  tried  for  magic, 
and,  through  the  influence  of  Jerome  Esculo,  the  Pope's  Parisian  legate, 
who  afterwards  ascendeti  the  papal  throne,  Avas  condenmed  to  imprison- 
ment for  ten  years  !  Who  feels  not  his  indignation  roused  when  lie  pe- 
ruses the  details  of  this  transaotion?  What  execration  do  not  distant 
ages  owe  to  those  men,  who,  under  the  semblance  of  religion,  could  treat 
so  ingloriously  a  man  whose  only  crime  was  the  love  of  science,  and  who 
nobly  sought  to  rise  above  the  pro.;trate  world  by  whom  he  was  sur- 
rounded. 

Hostility  to  science  is  the  crime  of  the  papal  system.  Its  aim  has  been, 
in  all  ages,  to  exclude  light,  to  extinguish  ireedom  of  thought ;  and,  ac- 
cordingly, one  hundred  and  fifteen  years  after  the  Reformation,  we  be- 
hold, in  the  history  of  a  great  philosopher,  its  hateful  and  still  ]X)tenL 
arm  stretched  forth  to  crush,  if  it  had  been  possible,  the  liud  of  science, 
which  was  gradually  disclosing  its  beauties,  and  diflusingits  fragranci- 
over  the  world.  Galileo  had  become  a  convert  to  the  Copernican  astro- 
nomy ;  and,  by  a  succession  of  noble  discoveries — the  most  splendid,  per- 
haps, which  it  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  an  individual  to  make— had  demon- 
strated the  motion  of  the  earth  round  the  sun.  A  mind  untrammelled 
by  prejudice,  would  readily  judge,  that  the  region  of  his  speculations 
was  a  territory  which  the  church  had  no  right,  and  should  have  had  no 
desire  to  invade ;  and  would  imagine,  that  the  slightest  attempt  to  inter- 
rupt his  glorious  career  would  never  have  been  made.  As  a  demonstra- 
tion, of  the  inveterate  and  perpetual  warfare  that  is  waged  by  the  pon- 
tifical church,  not  against  true  religion  only,  but  against  philosophy  and 
science— let  the  fact  be  recorded,  that  the  greatest  philosopher  of  his  age 
Avas  accused  as  a  heretic,  Avas  cast  into  a  dungeon  of  the  iiiquisition. 
heard  the  doctrines  of  his  philosophy  condemned  by  tliose  priestly  bigots 
Avho  had  no  minds,  aPxd  Avere  not  AA-orthy,  1o  comprehend  them,  and  had 
the  choice  given  him  of  either  recanting  his  opinions,  or  being  burnt  to 
death  1  He  did  recant.  At  the  age  of  sev^enty  years,  on  his  bended  knees, 
and  Avith  his  hand  on  the  holy  Gospels,  he  condemned  the  book  Aviiich  he- 
liad  Avritten,  abjured  and  cursed  opinions  Avhich  he  could  not  cease  to  hoKl 
Avithout  ceasing  to  think,  and  SAVore  before  God  and  the  Holy  Inquisitors, 
that  he  Avoukr  never  more,  cither  in  AA-ord  or  in  Avriting,  assert  the  doc- 
trines which  he  had  demonstrated  and  avowed.  What  a  scene  of  humil- 
iation Avas  this!  Who  pities  not  the  aged  timorous  victim  of  persecution? 
Who  execrates  not  the  hostility  of  his  foes  ?  The  mind  of  Galileo  Avas 
crushed  ;  he  never  afterwards  talked  or  Avrote  on  the  subject  of  astronomy, 
i'  Such,  was  the  triumph  of  his  enemies,  on  Avhom  ample  vengeance 
Avould  long  ago  haA'e  been  executed,^  if  the  indignation  and  contempt  ol 
posterity  could  reach  the  mansions  ot"  the  dead." 

Abjuration  of  Galileo.—"  I  Galileus,  son  of  the  late  Vincentius 
Galiieus;  a  Florentine,  aged  70,  being  here  personally  upon  my  trial. 


40  NOTE&^ 

and  on  my  knees  before  yon,  the  most  eminent  the  Lord^,  Cardinals,  In 
quistor-General  of  the  universal  Christian  commonweahh,  against  here- 
tical wickedness ;  and  having  before  my  eyes  the  most  Holy  Gospels, 
which  I  touch  with  my  proper  hands,  do  swear  that  I  have  always  be- 
lieved, and  do  nov/  believe,  every  thing  which  the  Roman  Church  dotli 
hold,  preach,  and  teach.  But  whereas,  notwithstanding,  afier  I  had 
been  legally  enjoined  and  commanded  by  this  holy  office,  to  abandon 
wholly  that  false  opinion,  which  maintains  that  the  sun  is  the  centre  o\' 
the  universe,  and  immoveable,  and  that  I  should  not  hold,  defend,  or  in 
any  way,  either  by  word  or  writing,  teach  the  aforesaid  false  doctrine  : 
and  whereas,  also,  after  it  had  been  notified  to  me  tliat  the  aforesaid  doc- 
trine was  contrary  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  I  wrote  and  published  a  book, 
in  which  I  treated  of  the  doctrine  which  had  been  condemned,  and  pro- 
duced reasons  of  great  force  in  lavor  of  it,  without  giving  any  answers 
to  them,  for  which  I  have  been  judged  by  the  holy  office  to  have  incur- 
red a  strong  suspicion  of  heresy,  for  believing  that  the  sun  is  the  centre  of 
the  world,  and  that  the  earth  is  not  the  centre,  but  moves.  Being  there- 
fore willing  to  remove  from  the  minds  of  your  eminences,  and  of  every 
Christian,  the  strong  suspicion  which  has  been  legally  conceived  against 
me,  I  doj  with  a  sincere  heart,  and  a  true  laith,  abjure,  curse,  and  de- 
test not  only  the  aibresaid  errors  and  heresies,  but,  generally,  every  other 
error  and  opinion  which  may  be  contrary  to  the  aforesaid  holy  church ; 
and  I  swear  that,  for  the  future,  I  will  never  say  or  assert,  either  by 
word  or  writing,  any  thing  that  shall  give  occasion  for  a  like  suspicion  : 
but  that,  if  I  should  know  any  heretic,  or  person  suspected  of  heresy,  3 
will  inform  against  him  to  this  holy  office,  or  to  the  inquisitor,  or  ordinary 
of  the  place  in  which  I  shall  then  be.  Moreover,  I  swear  and  promise, 
that  I  will  fulfil  and  fully  observe  all  the  penances  which  have  been,  oi- 
shall  be  hereafter,  enjoined  me  by  this  holy  office.  But  if,  which  God 
forbid  it  should  happen,  that  I  should  act  contrary  to  my  word,  promises, 
protestations,  and  oaths,  I  do  hereby  subject  myself  to  all  the  penalties 
and  punishments  which  have  been  ordained  and  published  against  such 
ofiisnders  by  the  sacred  canons,  and  other  acts  both  general  and  particu- 
lar. So  help  me  God,  and  these  holy  gospels  which  I  now  touch  with  mj^ 
proper  hand.  I,  the  abovementioned  Galileus,  the  son  of  Galileus,  have 
abjured,  sworn,  promised,  and  bound  ni3*self  as  above ;  and,  in  testi- 
mony of  these  things,  I  have  subscribed,  with  my  own  proper  hand,  the 
present  instruments  of  my  abjuration,  and  have  repeated  it,  word  by 
word,  at  Rome,  in  the  Convent  of  Minerva,  this  22d  day  of  July  anno 
1633.  I,  Galileus,  son  of  Galileus,  have  abjured,  as  above,  with  my  own 
proper  hand." 

But  that  Providence  which  superintends  the  affairs  of  the  world,  had 
happier  days  in  store  for  mankind  :  days  in  which  this  horrible  system  of 
restraints  and  punishments  was  to  be  overthrown,  the  human  intellect 
was  to  be  rescued  from  its  long  prostration — Religion,  restored  to  her  na- 
tive purit)^,  was  to  gain  illustrious  triumphs — and  science  was  to  reach 
her  splendid  trophies — and  the  light  of  a  glorious  improvement,  waxing 
brighter  and  brighter,  was  to  be  shed  over  and  to  beautify  the  aspect  of 
human  society.  This  happier  age  in  the  historyof  man  was  introduced  and 
effected  by  the  combined  influence  of  three  of  those  extraordinary  events 
which  Divine  Providence  sometimes  brings  to  pass  for  the  illuminatiaii 


NOTES.  41 

and  regeneration  of  a  dark  and  corrupted  world— tlic  (aking  ofConslan 
tinople  by  the  Turk?,  in  the  middle  of  the  firteentli  century,  and  the  con 
sequent  migration  of  the  Greeks  of  Constantinople  to  the  west ;  the  dis 
covery  of  the  art  of  printing,  which  took  place  about  the  same  time  ;— 
and  the  Reformation  by  Luther,  which  signalized  the  commencement 
of  the  ibllowing  age.  By  the  first  of  the.se  events,  the  Greek  literati, 
who  had  been  sheltered  in  the  capital  of  the  east,  were  dispersed  ovei 
Europe,  and  the  intellectual  riches  of  antiquity  were,  through  their  in- 
strumentality, placed  before  the  Avestern  world.  By  the  second,  facilities 
were  afforded  for  tiie  extensive  dissemination  of  ancient  literature,  and 
for  gratifying  that  ardent  desire  after  literary  and  religious  knowledge, 
which,  shortly  after,  was  universally  expressed.  But  the  Reformation 
was  necessary  to  overthrow  that  power  whicli  was  tlie  sworn,  and  deter- 
mined, and  ibrmidablc  protrectress  of  the  reign  of  darknes.^,  and  to  give 
scope  for  the  operation,  and  stability  to  tlie  influence,  ot  the  other 
auspicious  occurrences.  Through  the  combined  influence  of  these  im- 
portant events,  intelleet  was  roused  from  its  stagnation,  the  long  lost, 
rights  of  mind  began  to  be  appreciated,  and  that  contest  commenced, 
which  triumphantly  terminated  in  the  mind's  emancipation.  The  ac- 
quisition of  religious  liberty  was,  indeed,  the  primary  object  ol  that  me 
morable  struggle  which  took  place  throughout  Europe  in  consequence 
of  the  Reibrmation  ;  but  the  transition  was  an  easy  and  a  rapid  one,  to 
liberty  of  thought  and  investigation  on  general  subjects.  The  Avorks  oi" 
the  poets,  the  orators,  and  the  philosophers  of  antiquity,  pregnant  "vvith 
Jibcral  sentiment  and  patriotic  enthusiasm,  sent  forth  their  spirit  with  the 
rapidity  and  the  force  of  lightning  over  the  awakening  world,  and  co- 
operated with  tlie  writings  of  the  reformers,  and  the  reviveil  literature 
of  modern  times,  in  crumbling  to  ruin  the  systems  of  intellectual  and 
spiritual  oppression,  by  which  Europe  had  been  blighted  andclegraded 
ibr  a  thousand  years.  Thus  was  the  reign  of  mind,  when  banished  from 
the  east,  established  in  the  west,  and,  from  that  era,  commenced  the  pe- 
riod of  intellectual  activity,  which  has  crowned  the  modern  nations— 
with  'substantial  and  permanent  glory. 

The  principle  to  which  the  w^orld,  previous  to  that  time,  had  done 
homage,,  not  only  in  religious  but  in  philosophical  and  scientific 
pursuits,  was  "  Believe."  the  principle  which,  tVom  that  time,  has 
been  adopted  as  the  basis  of  intellectual  and  moral  culture,  is  "  Exa- 
mine ;"  and  it  is  only  necessary  to  reflect  for  a  moment  on  the  im- 
mense difference  between  these'  tv/o  principles,  in  order  to  perceive, 
that  under  the  government  of  the  one,  society  must  assume  an  aspect 
entirely  different  from  that  which  it  assumes  under  the  other.  The 
principle  of  examination  calls  forth  light,  of  which  it  is  the  friend  : 
that  of  Wind  submission  is  the  promoter  of  darkness.  He  who  is  a 
slave  in  his  mind,  in  the  very  centre  of  being,  without  knowing  that 
he  is  so,  is  a  slave  in  his  whole  conduct.  He  is  a  slave  by  birth, 
from  the  stupefaction  and  apathy  which  unnerve  his  faculties.  But 
the  man  who  is  free  in  the  inmost  sanctuary  of  his  soul,  is  really 
free.  Nobly  and  boldly  does  he  look  around  liim :  he  becomes  active, 
enterprising,  and  fitted  Ibr  every  thing  that  is  great  and  useful.  The 
progress  of  kuov/ledge  from  this  period  \vp<s  rapid ;  and  the  exertmn^ 

4* 


42  NOTES. 

and  the  discoveries  of  the  bright  constellation  of  .scientific  men,  who 
have  since  arisen,  and  who  have  shed  a  glorious  lustre  over  the  lasi 
three  hundred  years,  form  a  striking  and  delightful  contrast  to  all  that 
prostration  of  intellect,  and  all  that  poverty  of  invention  and  of  enterprise, 
ivhich  were  the  melancholy  characteristics  of  preceding  times. 

The  leading  agents  in  the  Protesstant  Reformation  were  themselves 
distinguished  for  the  love,  the  cultivation,  and  the  promotion  of  learning 
— men  who,  in  point  of  vigorous  minds,  and  literary  accomplish ments^ 
occupied  the  first  rank  in  their  age ;  and,  although  the  great  cause  of 
pure  religion  was  that  to  the  vindicatien  and  advancement  of  which 
they  chiefly  devoted  themselves,  they  were  not  forgetful  ol  the  interest?; 
of  literature.  They  felt  and  lamented  that  useful  knowledge  asd  learn- 
ing had  been  almost  extinguished  by  the  system  that  had  been  long  do- 
minant in  the  world ;  and,  regarding  the  revival  and  progress  of  learn- 
ing as  eminently  subservient  to  their  cause,  and  believing  that  only  error 
and  delusion  could  thereby  be  injured,  they  cultivated  science  themselves, 
and  exerted  all  their  influence  to  rouse  others  to  investigation. 


4.  In  the  Index  Expurgatorius,  published  by  authority  of  Rome,  not 
only  the  writings  of  the  Reformers,  and  other  Protestants,  on  religion, 
but  also  some  of  the  noblest  scientific  works  that  have  ever  issued  from 
{he  press,  are  placed  under  the  barm  of  the  church,  and  forbidden  to  be 
j-ead. 

INDEX  EXPURGATORIUS. — In  the  early  ages  of  the  Christian  church, 
there  existed  no  restrictions  respecting  the  reading  of  books,  save  tliose 
which  good  men  thought  proper  to  fmpose  on  them.selves.  The  first 
ecclesiastical  prohibition  on  this  subject,  is  the  canon  of  a  council  which 
was  held  at  Carthage,  about  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century;  in 
wdiich,  as  being  pernicious  to  good  morals,  the  writings  of  the  Pagans 
were  forbidden  to  be  read.  Frequently,  for  political  reasons,  did  the  em- 
perors prohibit  the  books  of  heretics ;  but  from  the  time  when  the  Papal 
power  was  established,  and  its  influence  extended  over  the  world,  the 
most  vigorous  and  successful  measures  were  adopted  for  perpetuating- 
the  darkness  of  the  human  mind. 

About  the  period  of  tlie  Reformation,  the  Indices  Expurgatorii^  or 
Catalogues  of  Interdicted  Books,  were  published ;  and  during  the  pon- 
tificate of  Paul  IV.  in  1559,  the  prohibitory  document  was  settled  down 
into  the  form  which  it  bears  in  modern  times.  Heretofore,  those  works 
only  had  been  interdicted  whose  authors  had  been  condemned  as  heretics. 
But  now  they  adv^anced  many  steps  farther,  and  laid  the  foundations 
of  a  marvellous  system  of  policy  for  the  support  and  aggrandizement  of 
Papal  power,  by  depriving  men  of  the  knowledge  which  is  necessary  to 
defend  them  from  usurpation.  The  Index  now  compiled  was  divided 
into  three  parts.  The  first,  contained  the  names  of  those  authors  whose 
works,  of  what  subject  soever  they  might  treat,,  were  prohibited ;  and" 
in  this  manner  were  placed,  not  only  those  who  diflered  in  doctrine  from 
the  Church  of  Rome,  but  many  also  w^ho  lived  and  died  in  her  conmiu - 
nion.  The  second  eontained  the  names  of  some  books  of  particular  au- 
thoi-Sjthe  rest  of  whose  works  were  not  condemned.    In  the  third,  by  a 


NOTES.  4:j 

o'eneral  rule,  all  anonymous  book?,  publi^llcd  al'icr  tJic  yrar  ITjIO,  wcir- 
Ibrbidden.  Many  authors  and  books  were  condemned,  which,  for  3()(t. 
200,  and  100  years  had  been  read,  with  the  concurrence  of  tlic  pontilfs. 
and  of  all  the  learned  men  of  Rome  ;  and,  stran^Tc  as  it  may  >-ecm,  then- 
were  included  in  this  class,  modern  books,  some  of  them  printed  in  Italy, 
and  even  in  Rome,  approved,  too,  not  only  by  the  Iniiuisition,  but  also 
by  the  Pope,— a  strikincr  example  of  which  is  the  fact,  that  the  Annota- 
tions of  Erasmus  on  the  New  Testament,  altlioufrh  read,  and,  in  his 
brief  of  September  1518,  approved,  by  Leo  X.  were  condemned.  Bui 
the  most  remarkable  circumstance  of  all,  is,  that,  under  colour  of  faith 
and  religion,  all  those  books  are  condemned  and  prohibited,  in  which  ihc 
authority  and  the  rights  of  secular  princes  are  defended  against  ecclesi- 
astical usurpation;  and  in  which  tlie  pow'er  and  privileges  of  bishops  and 
councils  are  vindicated  from  the  encroachments  of  the  Roman  court : 
and,  in  short,  all  those  works  in  which  the  mask  is  stripped  away  from 
the  system  of  hypocrisy  and  tyranny,  by  which  under  pretence  of  reli- 
gion, the  people  are  deceived.  To  such  an  extent,  indeed  did  this  horri- 
ble Inquisition  carry  its  hostility  against  the  liberty  of  the  press,  that  a 
catalogue  was  made  out  of  no  fewer  than  sixty-two  printers;  and  all 
the  works  were  prohibited  which  either  had  been,  or  might  be  published 
by  them ;  to  which  proceeding  was  added  this  consummation  of'  inquisi- 
torial iniquity,  that  all  the  books  of  such  other  printers  as  had  printed 
any  of  the  works  of  heretics  were  placed  under  the  same  prohibition. 
In  consequence  of  these  proceedings,  there  scarcely  remained  a  book  to 
be  read  !  And,  with  such  an  excess  of  rigor  were  tiiese  infamous  decisions 
accompanied,  that  the  prohibition  of  every  book  in  the  Index,  was  on 
pain  of  excommunication  to  the  reader,  the  power  being  reserved  to  the 
Pope  of  inflicting  on  the  offender,  deprivation  of  office  and  benefice,  in- 
capacitation, perpetual  infamy,  and  such  other  arbiti-ary  punishments  as 
he  might  judge  to  be  called  tor  by  the  nature  of  the  crime  !  Thus  did 
the  Court  of  Rome  w^age  determined  war  against  the  interests  of  know- 
ledge and  learning ;  proving  itself  the  decided  toe,  not  only  of  pun; 
Christianity,  but  of  all  literature  and  science,  and  of  every  thing  that 
constitutes  the  ornament,  and  glory,  and  delight  of  human  society.  Never 
was  an  expedient  devised  more  admirably  adapted  to  m.ake  men  stupid, 
to  degrade  them  down  to  the  level  of  irrational  beings,  and  to  render 
them  the  contented  slaves  of  the  most  ruthless  despotism,  than  thus  to 
employ  religion  in  opposition  to  reading  and  inquiry,  and  every  noble 
exertion  of  the  human  mind.  In  what  a  horrible  condition  of  mental 
slavery  might  the  world  have  now  been,  if  that  colossal  power  which 
a  long  time  wielded  its  sceptre,  and  crushed  the  energies  of  its  people, 
had  not  been  overthrown!  How,  but  for  that  Reformation,  on  which 
multitudes  who  enjoy  its  blessings  set  no  value,  might  we  have  been  at 
this  day, — Christians  indeed  in  name,  but  as  really  barbarians  in  mind 
and  in  character,  as  the  rude  savage  who  has  never  stepped  bevond  the 
boundary  of  his  woods,  and  on  whose  benighted  soul  the  light  of  science 
and  of  rehgionhas  never  shined. 

The  comparative  merits  of  the  two  systems,  in  reference  to  the  en 
couragement  of  learning,  are  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  condition  oftl)e 
contiiiental  universities :  "  That  men  may  be  qualified  for  the  learned 


44  NOTES. 

])rofes3ion?,  and  new  inventions  in  the  science?  promoled,  ilie  Protestant 
(German  universities  supply  vacant  chairs  by  men  of  hterary  merit,  and 
who  have  distinguished  tiiemselves  by  their  v^Titings.  With  the  popish 
universities,  a  few  instances  excepted,  it  is  the  reverse.  Papists  upbraid 
our  universities  as  lairs,  where  science  is  exposed  to  sale,  lor  attracting 
foreign  purchasers  ;  while  theirs  are  designed  to  instruct  natiT'es  in  what 
is  profitable,  not  to  collect  strangers  from  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Now, 
Popish  universities  serve  for  httle,  save  the  support  of  the  hierarchy.  A 
subtle  scholastic  philosophy,  a  casuistry  unsuitable  to  human  nature,  a 
study  of  the  fathers,  Avithout  taste  or  true  criticism,  and  other  dreams  of 
the  brain,  which  have  no  tendency  to  make  men  wiser  or  better,  art- 
their  chief  study.  A  few  years  only  have  elapsed,  since  sound  philosoph}',. 
llie  classic  authors,  history,  the  law  cf  nature,  chemistry,  and  even  med- 
icine, and  a  rational  explication  of  scripture,  have  been  studied  ;  and,  a.-- 
yet,  they  flourish  m  i&w  of  their  universities.  Among  Protestants,  pro- 
fessors contend  who  shall  excel  in  science :  among  papists,  what  mo- 
nastic order  shall  have  the  greatest  influence.  Many  boasted  changes 
and  reformations  are  little  more  than  one  order  getting  into  professor- 
ships, and  excluding  another.  This  determines  what  system  shall  be 
introduced ;  whether  the  Doctor  Subtilis,  the  Doctor  Angelicus,  or  the 
Doctor  Seraphicus,  shall  darken  the  understandings  of  youth ;  and  whe- 
ther traditions  shall  be  taught  according  to  Thomas,  to  Scotus,  or  to 
Busenhaum  '?"' 

5.  To  the  honor  of  the  reformers  ol  Scotland,  they  manifested  a  noble 
superiority  to  that  crooked  policy.  In  the  genuine  spirit  ol  Christianit}- 
ihey  sought  the  universal  extension  of  knowledge  among  their  country- 
men ;  and  if  the  liberal  and  patriotic  measures  which  they  proposed  had 
obtained  the  countenance  and  co-operation  of  the  Scottish  Aristocracy, 
the  people  of  oar  land  vrould  have  been,  at  this  day,  much  more  cn- 
hghtened  than  they  are,  and  she  could  have  claimed  the  glory  of  being, 
•in  a  higher  degree  than  is  now  the  case,  the  seat  of  science.  One  noble 
achievement  they  did  accomplish — an  achievement  v/hich,  although  there 
vrere  not  another  in  their  history  worthy  of  being  remembered,  would 
surround  tlieir  memory  with  imperishable  renown.  They  eflected  the 
establishment  ol  parochial  schools — an  institution  to  whicji,  more  than  to 
any  other,  this  land  is  indebted  for  the  diffusion  of  much  useful  know- 
ledge among  her  people,  and  for  that  peculiar  complexion  of  thoughtful 
intelligencelDy  which  tliey  are  generally  distinguished,  and  by  which 
they  are  elevated,  in  point  of  intellectual  and  moral  worth,  above  all  the 
people  of  surrounding  nations. 

They  laid  the  basis  oi  that  general  system  of  education,|which  has  proved 
the  greatest  blessing  that  our  country  has  ever  enjoyed.  The  benefits  aris- 
ing from  this  noble  and  benevolent  institution,  have  not  been  confined  to 
the  people  of  our  lov/land  districts ;  they  have  penetrated  even  into  those 
momitainous  parts  of  our  land  which,  by  their  pecular  habits,  and  man- 
ners, and  customs,  seemed  unhappil}^  separated  from  its  influence;  inso- 
much, that,  at  this  moment,  "  it  is  lio  uncommon  thing  for  the  traveller 
to  meet,  even  in  the  highlands  of  Scotland,  a  youth  attired  in  the  sim- 
T'lest  form  ol  the  garb  of  his  native   hills,  going  to,  or  returning  from 


NOTES.  45 

school,  with  some  of  the  classics  of  Greece  or  Home  under  his  nrm,  while 
the  flush  of  a  pardonable  emulation  crimsons  the  countenance  of  the  live- 
ly highlander,  as  the  intelligent  stranger  condescends  to  incjuire  aboni 
the  progress  of  his  studies."  Deep  is  the  debt  of  gratitude,  whicli 
Scotland  owes  to  the  plans  and  the  exertions  of  her  Reformers.  But 
for  these,  the  mountain  scenery  of  our  land  would  have  still  been  tbc 
abode  of  ignorant,  and  rugged,  and  ruthless  men.  The  spirit  of  darV 
and  desperate  hostility  would  still  have  been  breathed  against  us  by  il> 
people  ;  and  our  peaceful  plains,  would  have  still,  as  in  the  days  of  old. 
lain  open  to  the  fury  of  lawless  and  merciless  invaders.  It  is  tbe  opern 
tion  of  these  bequests  of  reforming  times,  that  has  lulled  to  sleep  the  fier\ 
.passions  of  the  Scottish  mountaineer, — that  has  soothed  the  elements  ol 
revenge,  which  long  time  rankled  in  his  breast, — that  has  sol\ened  down 
the  fierceness  of  the  lion  to  the  gentleness  of  the  lamb, — that,  in  short, 
has  changed  ths  impetuosity  of  minds,  which  were  once  as  rugged  as  the 
craggy  clilf,  and  impelled  by  torrents  of  passion  as  boisterous  as  the  moun- 
tain stream,-^into  the  stillness  of  the  lake  that  sleeps  softly  in  the  valley. 
Fcir  from  being  of  the  opinion  which  is  entertained  by  .some  narrow 
minds — that  there  is  danger  to  be  apprehended  fi-om  enlightening  the 
people,  and  that  popular  turbulence  is  connected  with  popular  illumina 
tion,  we  are  convinced,  that  in  proportion  as  the  people  are  made  to  rise 
in  the  scale  of  information,  they  will  rise  in  moral  dignity,  and,  instead  of 
becoming  factious  and  rebellious,  and  the  ready  prey  of  every  political 
impostor,  will  be  distinguished  by  those  habits  of  peace  and  intelligent 
obedience,  which,  while  they  do  honor  to  the  subject,  are  the  best  and 
noblest  safeguard  of  the  government  and  the  laws. 


6.      BULL   OF   POPE   INNOCENT   XIU.     FOR    THE    EXTIRPATION   OF   THE 
VAUDOIS. 

Innocent,  bishop,  &c.  to  Albertusde  Capitaneis,  ournuntio,  and  com- 
missary of  the  apostolical  see,  in  the  dominions  of  Charles,  Duke  of  Sa- 
voy, both  on  this  side  and  that  side  of  the  mountains,  inthecity  of  Vi- 
enne  in  Dauphiny,  and  in  the  city  and  diocese  of  Sedun,  and  the  places 
adjacent. 

\Ve  have  heard,  with  great  displeasure  of  certain  sons  of  iniquity,  in- 
habitants of  the  province  of  Ambrun,  &c.  followers  of  that  most  perniri 
ous  and  abommable  sect  of  wicked  men  called   poor  men  of  Lyons,  or 
Waldenses,  which  long  ago  hath  most  unhappily,  damnabiliter,  risen  up 
in  Piedmont,  and  the  other  places  adjacent. 

And  whereas,  Blasius  de  Mont  Royal,  ijiquisitor-gcneral  in  these  parts, 
transported  himself  into  that  province,  in  order  to  induce  them  to  abjure, 
but,  so  far  from  forsaking  their  wicked  and  j^erverse  errors,  like  the  deaf 
adder  that  shuts  its  ears,  they  proceeded  to  commit  yet  greater  evils  than 
before,  not  being  afraid  to  preach  publicly,  and  by  their  preachings,  ti' 
draw  others  to  contemn  the  excommunications,  interdicts,  and  other  con 
sures  of  the  said  inquisitor. 


46  NOTES. 

We  llicrc.fore.  being  desirous  to  pluck  up  and  wholly  root  out 
that  execrable  sect,  grant  to  you  a  full  and  entire  licence  and  au- 
thority to  call,  and  instantly  to  require,  by  yourself,  or  by  any  other 
person  or  persons,  all  the  archbishops  and  bishops  in  the  Duchy,  in 
Dauphiny,  and  in  the  parts  adjacent,  and  to  command  them,  in  virtue 
of  holy  obedience,  together  with  our  ordinaries,  or  tlieir  vicars,  or  thie 
officials-general  in  the  cities  and  dioceses  wherein  you  may  see  meet,  to 
proceed  to  the  premises,  and  to  execute  the  office  which  we  have  enjoin- 
ed you ;  and,  with  the  aforesaid  inquisitor,  that  they  be  assisting  to  you 
in  the  things  mentJ-^.ued,  and  with  one  consent  proceed,  along  with  you 
'to  the  execution  of  them,;  that  the}'  take  arms  against  the  said  Walden- 
>esand  other  heretics,  and,  with  common  counsels  and  measures,  crush 
and  tread  them  as  venomous  serpents;  and  that,  in  the  extermination 
and  dissipation  of  these  heretics,  they  apply  all  their  endeavors,  and  wil- ' 
lingly  bestow  all  tlieir  pains,  as  in  duty  bound;  and,  in  fine,  that  they 
neglect  nothmg  which  may  any  way  contribute  to  that  design. 

And  if  you  should  think  it  expedient,  that  all  the  faithful  in  those 
places  should  carry  the  salutary  cross  on  their  hearts  and  on  their  gar- 
ments, to  animate  them  to  fight  resolutely  against  these  heretics, — to 
cause  preach  and  publish  the  croisade  by  the  Priests,  and  to  grant  unto 
those  who  take  the  cross,  and  fight  against  these  heretics,  or  who  con- 
tribute thereunto,  the  privilege  of  gaining  a  plenary  indulgence,  and  the 
remission  of  all  their  sins  once  in  their  life,  and  likewise  at  the  point  of 
death,  by  virtue  of  the  commission  given  you  above ;  likewise  to  com- 
mand, upon  their  obedience,  and  under  the  pain  of  the  greater  excommu- 
nication, all  secular  and  regular  Priests,  of  w^hatever  order  they  be, 
mendicants  not  excepted,  exempt  and  non-exempt,  that  they  excite  and 
inflame  these  faithful  to  exteruiinate  them  utterly  by  force  and  fey  arms, 
so  that  they  may  assemble  with  all  their  strength  and  powders  for  re- 
pelling the  common  danger ;  further,  to  absolve  those  who  take  the  cross, 
fight,  or  contribute  to  the  w^ar,  from  all  ecclesiastical  sentences  and  pains, 
whether  general  or  particular,  by  wdiich  tliey  may  in  any  manner  be 
bound,  excepting  those  wdiich  shall  be  specially  inflicted  hereafter,  from 
which  the  offenders  are  only  to  he  loosed  by  previous  satisfaction,  or  the 
consent  of  the  party;  as  likewise  to  dispense  with  them  as  to  any  irreg- 
ularity they  may  be  chargeable  with  in  divine  things,  or  by  any  aposta- 
cy,  and  to  agree  and  compound  with  them  as  to  goods  which  they  may 
have  clandestinely  or  by  stealth  acquired,  or  which  they  dishonestly  or 
doubtfully  possess,  applying  them  only  for  the  support  of  the  expedition 
for  extirpating  the  heretics  ;  in  like  manner  to  commute  all  vows  wdiat- 
cver,  though  made  with  an  oath,  of  pilgrimage,  abstinence,  and  others, 
excepting  only  those  of  chastity,  of  entering  into  a  religious  life,  visiting 
the  Holy  Land,  the  sepulchres  of  the  apostles,  and  the  Church  of  James 
in  Compostella,  to  those  w^ho  come  forth  to  this  warfare,  or  who  contribute 
thereto,  or  who  only  give  as  much  as  the  performance  of  their  vows  of 
pdgrimage  might  probably  have  cost  them,  having  a  respect  to  the  dis- 
tance of  the  places,  and  the  condition  of  the  persons,  according  as  shall 
appear  proper  to  you,  or  to  the  confessors  deputed  by  you  lor  that  pur- 
pose; ill  tlic  m.ean  time  to  chuse,  appoint,  and  confirm,  in  our  name,  and 


NOTES.  47 

m  the  name  of  the  Romish  church,  one  or  more  captains  or  leaders  (jfthc 
Avar  over  tbe  crossed  soldiers,  and  the  army  to  be  convened,  a,  id  to  enjoin 
and  command  that  they  undertake  that  cliar^re,  and  i'aifl. fully  acciuir 
themselves  in  it  for  the  honor  and  defence  of  the  faith,  aiid  tiuit  all  the 
rest  be  obedient  to  him  or  them ;  to  grant,  lurther,  to  every  olic  of  them 
a  pennis'jion  lo  seize  and  freely  possess  their  goods  whether  moveable  or 
immoveable,  and  to  give  them,  for  a  prey,  whatever  the  heretics  have 
brought  to  the  lands  of  the  Papists,  or  on  tiie  contrary,  have  taken  or 
caused  to  be  taken  from  them;  to  command  likev/ise  all  those  who  are  in 
their  service,  wherever  they  be,  to  depart  from  them  within  a  limited 
time  which  you  shall  prescribe  to  them,  under  whatever  pains  you  shall 
judge  proper;  to  admonish  and  require  them,  and  all  persons  ecclesiasti- 
cal or  secular,  of  v/hatever  dignity,  age,  sex,  or  order  thc>  be,  under  the 
pains  of  excommunication,  suspension,  and  interdict,  reverently  to  oI)ey 
and  observe  the  apostolical  nrandat.es,  and  to  abstain  Irom  all  commerce 
■with  the  foresaid  heretics ;  and,  by  the  same  authority,  to  declare,  that 
they  and  all  others,  whoever  they  be,  who  may  be  bound  and  obliged  by 
contract,  or  in  any  other  manner  whatever,  to  assign  or  pay  any  thing 
to  them,  shall  not  henceforth  be  obliged  to  do  so,  nor  can  they  be  compels 
ed  in  any  manner  of  way  to  it ;— moreover,  to  deprive  all  those  who  do 
not  obey  your  admonitions  and  mandates  of  whatever  dignity,  state,  de- 
gree, order  or  preminence  they  be,  ecclesiastics  of  their  dignities,  offices, 
and  benefices,  and  secular  persons  of  their  honors,  titles,  fiefs,  and  privi- 
leges, if  they  persist  in  their  disobedience  and  rebellion ;  and  to  confer 
their  benefices  on  others  whom  you  shall  account  worthy  of  them,  and 
even  on  those  who  may  be  already  possessed  of,  or  CKpecting  any  other 
ecclesiastical  benefices,  in  whatever  number,  or  of  whatever  quality 
soever  they  may  be  ;  and  to  declare  these  deprived  as  aforesaid,  for  ever 
infamous,  and  incapable,  for  the  time  to  come,  of  obtaining  the  like  or 
any  others;  and  to  fulminate  ail  sorts  of  censures,  according  as  justice, 
rebellion,  or  disobedience,  shall  appear  to  you  to  require ;  to  inflict  an 
interdict,  and  when  inflicted,  either  to  remove  it  finally,  or  only  to  suspend 
it  for  a  time,  according  as  it  may  be  found  expedient,  on  good  reasons 
and  consideration,  as  you  may  know  to  be  useful  and  necessary ;  but 
chiefly  on  those  days  on  which  indulgences  are  to  be  published,  or  the 
croisade  to  be  preached ; — and  to  proceed  directly  and  simpliciter,  with- 
out the  noise  and  form  of  justice,  having  only  regard  to  truth,  against 
those  who  carry  to  these  heretics,  or  their  accomplices,  provisions,  arms, 
or  other  things  prohibited,  and  other  aiders,  abettois,  advisers,  or  enter- 
tainers of  them,  whether  open  or  secret,  or  who  by  any  means  hinder  or 
disturb  the  execution  of  such  a  salutary  enterprize ;  and  to  declare  all 
and  every  one  of  the  transgressors  to  have  incurred  the  censures  and 
pains,  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  which  are  inflicted,  of  right,  upon 
those  who  do  such  things  ;  as  also  to  restore  and  absolve  those  who  are 
penitent,  and  willing  to  return  again  to  the  bosom  of  the  church  as  f<jr- 
merly,  even  though  they  should  have  taken  an  oath  to  favor  the  heretics, 
or  had  received  their  pay  to  fight  for  them,  or  had  supplied  them  with 
arms,  succours,  victuals,  and  other  things  forbidden  ;  providing  they  pro- 
mise by  taking  an  oath  of  a  different  kind,  or  otherwise  give  sufficient 
security,  that  for  the  time  to  come  they  will  obey  our  mandates,  those 
of  the  church,  and  yours,  whether  they  be  commnnities.  universities,  or 


48  NOTES. 

particular  reasons,  of  Avhatever  state,  order,  or  pre-eminence  they  be,  or 
in  whatever  dignity,  ecclesiastical  or  civil,  they  may  be  elevated  ;  and  to 
re-establish  and  put  them  in  possession  ot  their  honors,  dignities,  offices, 
benefices,  fiefs,  goods,  and  other  rights,  ol  which  they  were  formerly 
))ossessed  ; — and  in  fine,  to  concede,  dispose,  establish,  ordain,  command, 
!md  execute,  all  and  every  other  matters  necessary  or  in  any  respect  con- 
ducive to  this  salutary  business,  even  though  they  sliould  be  such  as 
require  a  particular  order,  and  are  not  comprehended  in  your  general 
commission ;  and  to  check  and  restrain  all  opposers  thereof,  by  ecclesiasti- 
cal censures,  and  other  suitable  and  lawful  remedies,  without  regard  to 
an}^  appeal  whatever ;  and,  if  need  be,  to  call  in  to  your  assistance  the 
aid  of  the  secular  arm.  And  our  will  is,  that  all  privileges,  exemptions, 
apostolical  letters,  and  indulgences  of  any  kind,  granted  by  us,  in  gener- 
al or  particular,  or  in  manner  aforesaid,  under  any  form  of  words  or  ex- 
pressions, shall  be  held  void,  and  as  letters  not  granted,  so  far  as  they  are 
inconsistent  with  and  tend  to  hinder  or  retard  these  presents, — we  hereby 
deprive  them  of  all  force,  together  with  all  other  things  whatever  that 
are  contrary,  if  in  the  apostolical  letters  there  be  not  full  and  express 
mention  made,  word  for  word,  of  such  an  indulgence. 

Thou,  therefore,  my  son,  show  yourself  diligent^  solicitous  and  care- 
ful, so  that  ii-om  your  labors,  the  expected  succes-s  and  fruits  may  follow  : 
and  that,  by  your  solicitude,  you  may  not  only  merit,  but  also  that  you 
jnay  obtain  the  more  abundant  commendations  from  us,  on  account  of 
your  most  exact  diligence  and  faithful  integrity. 
Given  at  Rome,  at  Peter's,  in  the  year  1477. 

This  monument  of  Papal  bigotry  achieved  its  object — a  crusade  com- 
menced against  the  Waldenses,  by  which  they  were  annihilated.  When 
we  think  of  the  melancholy  fate  of  this  martyred  Christian  people,  we 
are  led  to  exclaim  in  the  pathetic  language  of  Milton — 

"  Aventje,  O  Lord,  thy  slaughtered  saints  !  whose  bones 

Lie  scattered  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold; 

Even  them  who  kept  thy  truth  so  pure  of  old, 
When  all  our  fathers  worshipped  stocks  and  stones, 
Forget  not !  in  thy  book  record  their  groans — 

Slain  by  the  bloody  Piedmontese,  who  roU'd 
Mother  with  infant  down  the  rocks  ;  their  moans 
The  vales  redoubled  to  the  hills,  and  they 
To  heaven.'' 

The  prayer  will  be  heard  : — the  time  is  at  hand  when  the  millions  of 
the  "excellent  ones  of  the  earth"  whom-  Popery  hath  martyred,  shall  be 
avenged. — Rev.  xviii.  4 — 8. 


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BW1842.M15C.2 

Effect  of  the  Reformation  on  civil 

Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


